Blue Water Land Fund Inc.

“The community foundation of st. Clair county's board of trustees meet the last tuesday of each calendar quarter at a minimum. The business agenda of these board meetings include a review of internal financial statements and investment reports that have been reviewed and accepted by its finance and investment committee at one of their monthly meetings. Annually, at the recommendation of its audit committee, the board of trustees engage the services of an independent auditing firm to perform an audit of its financial records and issue an audited consolidated financial statement for the calendar year. Additionally, as part of the engagement, the auditing firm is hired to draft the annual form 990 for the community foundation of st. Clair county and its supporting organizations, including the blue water land fund, inc.; however, community foundation staff are significantly involved in this process. Membership on both the audit committee and the finance and investment committee include a number of board of trustees as well as other community members with financial or audit experience. Aside from meeting with foundation management, the independent auditors meet jointly with both the foundation's audit committee and the foundation's finance and investment committee to present the audited financial statements and review the results of the annual audit. Subsequently, the consolidated audit report is presented to and reviewed by the foundation's board of trustees at its second quarterly meeting. Due to the timing associated with the aforementioned levels of review of the audit report, and automatic extension for filing the form 990 (from the initial may 15 deadline) is typically required. After the final consolidated financial statements have been issued, the form 990 for all companies are drafted by the independent audit firm and its director of tax, with the direct assistance of the foundation's director of finance. The final draft of the form 990s are reviewed by the foundation's director of finance and then signed by the foundation's president and ceo before filing and after the board's acceptance. The form 990's (for the community foundation and its supported organizations) are distributed to the board of trustees for their review prior to filing. For the sake of transparency and time-relevance, it is the goal of foundation management to file the form 990's as quickly as possible. If a formal review at a scheduled board of trustee meeting is feasible within the time frame, foundation management will do so, and the meeting minutes will reflect their formal review. If such a formal review will delay the filing unnecessarily, foundation management will distribute electronically (or in hard copy) a copy of the drafted form 990's for board trustees' review. An explanatory cover letter will accompany these form 990's with review notes that "walk" trustees through the document and correlate the return back to the audited financial statements. This cover letter requests that trustees contact the director of finance with any questions and/or to schedule individual reviews as deemed necessary. Each board trustee is requested to document their acceptance of the form 990's formally via a reply to the electronic distribution, or hard copy distribution. Evidence of board of trustee review and approval will be retained in the form 990 files. Upon approval of the board of trustees, the form 990s will be filed. Electronic file versions of the form 990s are available on the foundation's website (www.stclairfoundation.org), uploaded to guidestar.org (a resource relative to nonprofit organizations), and are also available upon request or in person.”

“The community foundation of st. Clair county and its supporting organizations (community renaissance fund and blue water land fund inc.) has a board-approved conflict of interest policy that meets council on foundations national standards for community foundation accreditation. All board trustees, including foundation officers, committee members and staff members must review the policy annually and sign a statement which affirms that they: a.) have received a copy of the conflict of interest policy; b.) have read and understand the policy. C.) have agreed to comply with the policy, including disclosure of existing and potential conflicts as they arise; and d.) understands the community foundation is charitable and in order to maintain it federal tax exemption it must engage primarily in activities which accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes. Foundation management reviews these conflict of interest disclosures upon receipt, summarizes for the board and includes in board books. The disclosure forms are maintained on file. Prior to consideration of any motion for action on items of business during meetings, board of trustees are asked if potential conflicts of interest exist. Upon disclosure of potential conflict, the board must determine if the potential conflict is deemed material or immaterial. For typical disclosures involving a board trustee's service with a non-profit organization being considered for a grant, while the board trustee may stay and participate in discussion, they abstain from any vote. For any potential conflict of interest that is deemed material, as outlined in the blue water land fund's conflict of interest policy, the board trustee may be asked to leave the meeting while the item of business is discussed and voted upon. The minutes of all board meetings record the name(s) of the person(s) who were in attendance for discussions and votes and also outline 1) the names of those who disclosed or otherwise were found to have a potential conflict of interest 2) the nature of the potential conflict, and 3) any action taken involving the conflict of interest as well as the decision on the item of business for which the potential conflict of interest arose. When the nature of potential conflicts of interest is other than as previously referenced, the foundation's president and executive committee discusss the potential conflict of interest with the individual involved and address how such conflict can be handled. Resolution of the potential conflict is guided by the foundation's strong desire to maintain its high standards, transparency and credibility with its donors, grantees, public, and taxing agencies.”

“Governing docuemnts (articles of incorporation and bylaws) for the blue water land fund, inc. Are available on the community foundation of st. Clair county's (supported organization) website (www.stclairfoundation.org) as downloadable documents, along with other policies and key documents such as the audited financial statements and irs form 990s. Hard-copies are also available upon request. It is the goal of the foundation, its staff, and board to be accountable and transparent to our donors and the entire community by regularly disseminating our program and financial information. It is our intent to comply with the internal revenue code and regulations with respect to public inspection of the form 990s, irs form 990-t's to the extent a filing were required, and the irs determination letters for the community foundation and its controlled supporting organizations. Therefore the foundation will: 1) make these documents available for public inspection at its offices during regular business hours without charge; 2) provide a copy without charge, other than a reasonable fee for reproduction and actual postage costs, of all or any part of these documents required to be made available for public inspection to any individual who makes a request for such a copy in person or in writing; and 3) upload and maintain on our website the foundation's audited financial statements, form 990s and form 990-ts to the extent filings were required for a minimum of 3 years. Additionally, the guidestar organization serves as a resource for those individuals and organizations wishing to research non-profit organizations by working with the irs to make available the 990s of all non-profit organizations. Recognizing that this availability is sometimes delayed and readers may not understand the full picture of who we are and what we do through the form 990 alone, the foundation will pay the nominal fee to voluntarily have its irs form 990's uploaded to guidestar's website, along with its audited financial statements that includes an opening cover letter from management discussing key philosophies, initiatives, and the financials.”

“Blue water land fund - 990 narrative addressing common paymaster: the community foundation of st. Clair county, tax id 38-1872132, acts as common paymaster for both its organization as well as its two supporting organizations - the community renaissance fund, tax id 20-1649237, and the blue water land fund, tax id 45-2908074. While all form w-2s are reported under and taxes are paid through the community foundation's tax id 38-1872132. Wages, benefits, and related taxes are allocated and recorded between the organizations based upon the assigned responsibilities, time spent, and specific work performed. Of the 15 w-2s filed for 2017, eight were for core operational employees for the community foundation, one of which had left the foundation mid-year. The remaining seven form w-2s were for employees working specific grant-funded initiatives, five of which had summer intern/seasonal positions that ended well in advance of december 31st. The wages for all of these grant funded initiatives were all allocated to the corresponding program funds within the community foundation. Although audited financial statements reflect the consolidation of both organizations, separate form 990s are filed for each organization independently. Consequently, this common paymaster status and the existence of shared employees should be noted. At this time, while the foundation's president/ceo oversees operations and initiatives of its supporting organizations, his time and related wages/benefits are absorbed under the community foundation's operations ---that said, as related organizations, his wages/benefits must be reported under those respective supporting organizations' form 990s as well, in accordance to irs requirements.”

“Support and enhance the community foundation's efforts in developing and maintaining parcels of real estate, like the blue water river walk or st. Clair plaza courtyard, deemed important for the betterment of the community and region through conservation, protection, public access, tourism and/or community and economic development.”