Equity Community Development

“Normally, the Secretary of the Board contemporaneously documents the meetings held or actions taken during the year; however, 2021 was an unusual year due to the late effects of the pandemic on the housing industry. Due to the slowdown in productivity, there wasn't much action to be taken by the Board. Furthermore, there were Equity CDC meetings in December of 2019 and January of 2022. Necessary Board activity took place just before and just after FY 2021.”

“In FY 2021, there were no committees undertaking any action on behalf of the Board or independently.”

“For FY 2021, the 990 was prepared and submitted directly to the IRS by the Executive Director. While not a requirement, it is anticipated that policies will be developed in the future to allow for Board members to review a draft 990 prior to submission.”

“The Conflict of Interest Policy adopted by the Governing Board of Equity CDC requires that each director, principal officer, and board member sign statements affirming that the policy has been received and understood. All independent contractors and any management or administration partnerships are reviewed prior to contracting with that entity to determine the identity of the principals and any potential for private interest or recess benefit to each director, officer, or board member. Periodic reviews of compensation arrangements are conducted.”

“Compensation for the Executive Director was most recently reviewed and approved in FY 2019. No other key employees were affected. No changes were made in FYs 2020-2021. The process to establish reasonable compensation involved extensive research into what someone in a similar position would earn at a similar organization. A study was compiled consisting of comparisons which where made with specific positions at specific nonprofit organizations in the Austin area and with similar positions at state agencies performing similar tasks and responsibilities. Information from publicly available IRS 990 Reporting forms was utilized for the nonprofit data and information was sourced from the publicly available Government Salaries Explorer of the Texas Tribune for the specific state agency salary figures. Objective comparisons were also made at the national, state, and local levels for similar nonprofits with aggregated data sourced from the 2019 Edition of the GuideStar Nonprofit Compensation Report. The study was presented to the Governing Board of Equity CDC at a Board meeting in a manner that allowed for contemporaneous substantiation, discussion, deliberation, and unanimous approval by all Board Members.”

“Governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available upon request and contact information is displayed on our website: www.equitycdc.org. Additional financial information is publicly available on www.guidestar.org and similar organizations.”