Greater Milwaukee Convention and Visitors Bureau Inc

“Line 6 explanation - the organization has active members which are individuals or entities, all or part of whose business operations are conducted within the greater milwaukee area, or who resides in the greater milwaukee area. In addition other members include honorary members, municipal members, and the milwaukee county government member. Active members pay annual dues. Membership is non-voting. Membership includes privileges such as participation in various activities, programs, publications, educational and marketing activities as may be designated from time to time by the board of directors. An annual meeting of members is held as well as possible special meetings, if so called.”

“The 990 is reviewed by the secretary/treasurer on behalf of the audit/finance committee, a standing committee of the board of directors, prior to filing. A copy is made available to the full board for their review, but not prior to filing.”

“Upon each update of the policy or when a new member joins the board they are requested to carefully read and sign off upon agreement. These documents are kept within hr and only accessible by hr and the ceo. If any matters of conflict should arise, hr works directly with the individual, documents all conversations and discussed directly with the ceo”

“Needs are identified by either the manager or department and a proposal is written. It is then reviewed with hr to determine proper leveling and a reasonable salary range based on internal metrics and outside benchmarking studies to determine relativity to industry standards. Proposal is then reviewed by finance to ensure adequate funding and ultimately reviewed by the president and ceo for final approval.”

“Documents are available upon request at our offices. The 990 is filed online at guidestar.org.”

“Through exercising prudent fiscal management and enacting best practices, visit milwaukee has established various reserve and contingency funds over the past several fiscal years. These funds are reflected on the financial statements as board designated net assets, and are comprised of four designated funds. These funds were established by a board resolution. Total net assets may grow or decline in any given fiscal year based on activities within the funds. The funds include an emergency contingency fund, a non-profit best practice. Visit milwaukee receives 80% of its annual funding through one funding source, which causes a concentration of risk. Best practice is to maintain a minimum reserve equal to six months of operating expenses. In addition, a restricted business opportunity fund was created in 2007 to capitalize on convention business opportunities for the downtown milwaukee area. Funds are designated specifically for this purpose. The operating reserve fund is used to cover current year operating expenses. Due to the timing of annual disbursements from the main funding source, visit milwaukee must draw down its operating reserve fund throughout the fiscal year in order to fund current year expenses. Visit milwaukee management may not utilize any of the net asset reserve funds without executive committee approval.”