American Mock Trial Association

“The organization amended its bylaws to (1) allow the president or treasurer to independently sign checks without the signature of the other; and (2) require the executive committee to approve any expense in excess of $5,000 that is not otherwise approved by the board of directors.”

“No committees have authority to act on behalf of the board of directors.”

“As the returns are prepared and reviewed by the treasurer, the treasurer emails a copy of the final version of the forms 990 and 990t and state tax return, including all schedules, to each board member for their review. The board then has 5 days to review and provide comments, if any. If comments or questions result in material changes to the return as prepared, corrections are made and new final returns are prepared and again sent to the board by email, with comments again due in 5 days. If no comments are forthcoming, the returns are then filed by the treasurer.”

“Annually, each director and officer is required to complete and sign the conflicts of interest statement and questionnaire, disclosing any potential conflicts of interest. All completed forms are reviewed by the board of directors. If a potential conflict is noted, the board may appoint a disinterested person or committee of disinterested persons to investigate alternatives to the transaction or arrangement. After exercising due diligence, the board or committee, as the case may be, will detemrine whether the corporation can obtain with reasonable effort a more advantageous transaction or arrangement from a person or entity that would not give rise to a conflict of interest. If a more advantageous transaction or arrangement is not reasonably possible under circumstances not producing a conflict of interest, the board of directors or committee must determine by a majority vote of the disiniterested directors (even if this leaves less than a quorum) whether the transaction or arrangement is in the corporation's best interests for its own benefit and whether it is fair and reasonable. If it is determined that a conflict of interest has not been disclosed, then the board or committee must take appropriate and corrective action, including removal of the interested director from the board.”

“The articles of incorporation are available through the iowa secretary of state or their website: http://sos.iowa.gov/. The bylaws are posted on the organization's website: www.collegemocktrial.org. The conflict of interest policy and financial statements are not available to the public. The tax return forms 990 and 990t are available upon requests made in writing through the association's website.”

“CONTRACT LABOR: Program service expenses 0. Management and general expenses 46,210. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 46,210.”