Colorado Disability Benefits Support

“The executive director (ed) and a board officer, as available, have a meeting with the external consultant to review the form 990 and its required attachments and schedules. During this meeting, a review of all financial and narrative information is undertaken to make sure all reports and schedules reflect the actual operating results of the agency for the most recently completed fiscal year. After this process, the ed provides a summary presentation of the form 990 at the agency's next board meeting. The draft form of the 990 is reviewed and approved by the finance committee. The form 990 and accompanying schedules are then provided to the entire board with a period for providing comments, edits or corrections prior to filing with the irs.”

“The executive director and the board development/governance committee(bdgc) reviews the annual conflict of interest for potential conflicts. The forms are completed and signed by directors and officers. If the bdgc were to identify a conflict of interest during the annual review, the committee would ensure that the trustee or officer was not allowed to participant in any related vote and related transactions were subject to competitive bidding.”

“The organization's executive committee (ec) which serves as the compensation committee, uses comparable salary survey information from a variety of nonprofit organizations as well as nonprofit sector trends and other nonprofit compensation data to annually determine the compensation of the executive director. This information is also used to develop salary ranges for key staff. In addition, the performance of the executive director is evaluated by the ec, and the executive director conducts performance evaluations for key staff which are shared with the ec and are used to determine compensation.”

“The organization's governing documents, conflict of interest policy and the form 990 are available upon request. Requests received in writing are generally answered within ten business days of receipt. The agency does not make its internal financial statements available to the general public.”

“Colorado disability benefits support program (colorado dbs) is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization with the following vision, mission and value statements: vision: our vision is that people with disabilities, chronic medical conditions/illnesses, will live, work and participate as respected and valued members of their local communities. Mission: colorado dbs assists individuals who may or may not self-identify as having a disability, including those with chronic conditions/illnesses, to solve the benefits puzzle, by acquiring income, health insurance and access to other basic needs to stabilize their lives, health and living situations. Dbs values: * colorado dbs will respect and be inclusive of individual opinions, decision-making power, and ultimate choices of individuals with disabilities * colorado dbs values the experiences of persons with disabilities and the peer support model by recruiting volunteers and hiring qualified individuals with disabilities for positions whenever possible * colorado dbs serves people with all types of disabilities and provide services in a person-centered model * colorado dbs demonstrates inclusion of people from all cultures and languages, strives to make the organization culturally and linguistically accessible, and opposes discrimination on all levels. * colorado dbs expects to go the extra mile to provide quality services. However, we will not promise what we cannot do. * colorado dbs believes that the informed and educated customer is the one who knows what is best for herself/himself. * colorado dbs respects the customer's ability to do for her or himself and encourage the development of that ability. * colorado dbs knows that ssa disability benefits are necessary tools to help people with disabilities stabilize their lives. Costs of helping people are human investments and are based on societal values * colorado dbs encourages and supports work as a goal; either as a supplement to disability benefits or, as health improves and/or training and equipment is provided, working one's way off benefits to financial independence. It is the customer's decision. According to a report funded by the colorado health foundation, there are as many as 80,000 adults in colorado who are eligible for social security administration's federal disability programs; supplemental security income (ssi) and social security disability insurance (ssdi), but are unable to access them due to a multitude of barriers. Ssi and ssdi programs are important tools that can help individuals recover, stop and prevent homelessness, establish a pathway into the workforce, and increase self-sufficiency. Without these program supports, individuals are at increased risk for homelessness and recovery is invariably delayed. Here are some important facts about colorado dbs: * colorado dbs was established to assist eligible individuals to apply for ssa's federal disability programs and medicaid related services. * colorado dbs provides direct individual and group ssi/ssdi application assistance services. * colorado dbs delivers statewide training and technical assistance services via face to face and webinar formats to individuals, families, and organizations that provide ssi/ssdi application assistance. * colorado dbs serves as the state lead for the soar (ssi/ssdi outreach, access and recovery) intervention. * colorado dbs seeks to ensure these services are available throughout the state to individuals that need this ssi/ssdi application assistance. * colorado dbs seeks to expand services to provide child ssi application assistance. * colorado dbs believes we can expand our capacity to deliver services by building a volunteer workforce.”

“The organization was engaged in winding down activities to prepare for dissolution for most of 2017 - dbs stopped accepting referrals in march 2017 and completed work on contracts in september 2017”