Transit Riders Union

“One member of our board (the president) is not independent because she is also a paid employee (campaign coordinator) of the organization.”

“TRU is a membership organization. We have sliding-scale dues.”

“TRU's members elect officers (board members) annually.”

“While the board can make time-sensitive and minor decisions on its own, significant organizational decisions are brought to the membership at monthly meetings. Decisions of the membership are reaffirmed at monthly meetings of the board, as the official decision-making body according to our bylaws.”

“This form 990 was completed by our president, Katie Wilson, using financial information provided by our bookkeeper. It was then shared with the bookkeeper and with all board members. No review was or will be conducted.”

“In determining the salary of our campaign coordinator, the board took into account what they knew of salaries at several peer non-profits, in addition to other considerations, and brought a proposal for discussion and approval to the membership. Since the campaign coordinator is also a board member, she was excluded from decision-making regarding this issue on the board and at the membership meeting.”

“No documents were made available to the public.”

“I don't think we are actually required to list compensation for our campaign coordinator, since this (and the total compensation of all employees and independent contractors) is less than $100,000. However, we included this to make clear that Katie Wilson is compensated for a specific role as an employee of the organization and not in her capacity as a director or officer.”

“In early 2021, TRU convened a new coalition called Stay Housed Stay Healthy to work on issues related to evictions and renter protections during the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“Other program services include (1) Monopoly and anti-trust education, including hosting workshops, (2) Public advocacy on approaches to the homelessness crisis, (3) State legislative advocacy engaging members in lobbying state legislators on TRU's priorities, (4) Co-hosting candidate forums for local candidates for elected officials on transportation and other issues of interest to our members.”

“This amount includes payments to three independent contractors (in the amounts $18,000, $2,250, and $4,500) for services rendered successively as Lead Organizer over the course of the year (for periods of 8 months, 1 month, and 2 months). The remainder was to an independent contractor who acted as moderator for two candidate forums.”

“I'm pretty sure these are rounding differences, based on putting cents amounts into the fields and having them automatically round up or down.”