Lutheran Senior Services

“The governing board members are elected by associated churches.”

“The governing body is provided a copy of the form 990 for review prior to filing. Approval of the form 990 is delegated to the audit committee of the governing body prior to filing.”

“All directors and employees will disclose a conflict of interest on the "conflict of interest form" in the following situations and in other circumstances which he/she thinks might cause a conflict between his/her personal interests and his/her fiduciary duty: financial interests, inside information, conflicting interest other than financial, gifts and favors. The following lss employees are required to sign a "conflict of interest form" annually: president, chief operating officer, chief financial officer/treasurer, vice president of construction and it, vice president of human resources, all directors, administrators and assistant administrators. The corporate compliance officer follows up with any conflicts of interests and documents the resolutions of the conflicts. These forms are kept by the corporate compliance office.”

“The board of directors established a separate compensation committee charged with performing an annual performance review of the ceo and reviewing the ceo's compensation package. The compensation committee engaged a third-party global human capital consulting firm to: (1) develop an annual ceo performance review process, including a new evaluation form, and (2) develop a compensation package based on its knowledge of similarly sized non-profit organizations in order to ensure that the compensation paid to the ceo is reasonable. All members of the board complete an annual evaluation, which the compensation committee summarizes and reviews. The compensation committee then makes a recommendation to the full board of directors for any compensation adjustments.”

“Although not a requirement, the organization provides photocopies of its governing documents, conflict of interest policy, financial statements, and other documents to all who request one or more of the items.”

“Lutheran senior services is a large complex organization that is comprised of 19 separate legal entities, each of which files its own tax return. Due to the requirements for completing these 990's (which are filed by 16 of the 19 lss entities), some of the information contained within the form, such as revenue and expenses, is related only to that particular entity. However, some of the information, such as executive compensation, relates to the entire organization. To help make this information more meaningful, the following paragraph provides a summary of the overall operations of lss. Lutheran senior services is a not for profit organization owned by 104 lutheran churches and was initially founded in 1858. Lutheran senior services operates 10 senior living communities serving over 3,000 older adults, nine affordable housing communities serving over 570 older adults and a variety of in home services programs serving over 5,000 older adults. In 2013, lss had total operating income of approximately $169,000,000, provided approximately $6,000,000 in benevolent care, had over 86,000 volunteer hours, and employed 18 chaplains.”

“Expenses previously were categorized by department as there was no methodology method in place to break down between the various categories listed on the functional expense section of the 990. This year a new methodology method was put into place to allocate these expenses and as such have been split between their corresponding expense account.”

“Net periodic pension cost -604,162. Change in value of interest rate swap 772,854. Other changes in plan assets and benefit obligations 2,738,433. Equity transfer -7,939,999.”

“The organization has an audit committee that is responsible for the oversight of the audit. This process is consistent with the prior years.”

“The management fee expense represents only intercompany charges that are offset by management fee revenues included in program service revenues on page 9.”