Schools Out Washington

“The finance committee reviews the form 990 before it is filed and makes it available for the full board after it is filed.”

“The conflict of interest policy applies to "covered persons," defined as any sowa director, officer, or member of any committee of sowa's board of directors that has authority to act on behalf of the board of directors, and those sowa employees who may be designated by sowa's president. Covered persons are required to sign the conflict of interest policy form upon joining the board and annually thereafter. No covered person may engage in any transaction or arrangement or undertake positions with other organizations that involve a conflict of interest, except in compliance with this policy. Every covered person shall disclose all actual and potential conflicts and recuse himself/herself from voting on any transaction or arrangement in which he/she has a potential or actual conflict of interest and shall not be present when any such vote is taken. All disclosures involving a transaction or arrangement being considered at a meeting of the board or a committee shall be made to all members present at such meeting. All other disclosures shall be made to the president (who shall disclose his or her conflicts to the board of directors). The president shall disclose to the board of directors all conflicts of interest reported to him or her under this policy. The board of directors will evaluate the disclosures to determine whether they involve actual conflicts of interest and may attempt to develop alternatives to remove the conflict from the situation.”

“In 2022, sowa contracted with an external consulting firm who used numerous wage and benefit surveys to benchmark salary ranges for each position in the organization. In 2023, sowa worked with the same external consulting firm to determine the appropriate percentage to age the ranges for the positions benchmarked in the previous years. Newly added or substantially revised positions were also benchmarked by this consulting firm. Additionally, the board approves a budget each year for total salary increases. Raises were awarded to staff in september 2023 based on these benchmarks, employees' tenure, the budgeted salary increments, and our financial position at that time. In 2023, the salary increments for all staff averaged 4.8%.”

“The audited financial statements are made available upon request and the form 990 is published on our website. The governing documents and conflict of interest policy are not made public.”

“In 2023, 10 volunteers served for some or part of the year as members of the board of directors.”

“Youth development executives of king county, fiscally sponsored by school's out washington, ceased operations in october 2023.”

“Return of prior year grants 28,953.”