The Story of Stuff Project

“The tax return is prepared by an outside accounting firm. After completion of said returns, the organization is sent a draft of the tax returns to be reviewed and examined. The organization makes copies of the returns and distributes to those individuals charged with governance. Those individuals at that time can review and if applicable discuss any line items in the return with the accountant who has prepared the return. If all items are found to be acceptable, an authorization is signed and provided to authorize the outside accounting firm to process, sign and provide copies of the returns to be filed (paper or electronically) with the designated governmental agencies. The tax returns are then signed by the organization, stamped and mailed with certified return receipt or the signed form 8879 is provided to the outside accounting firm allowing electronic filing.”

“Each director, principal officer, and member of a committee with board-delegated powers annually signs a statement which affirms such person received a copy of the conflicts of interest policy, read and understands the policy, agreed to comply with the policy, and understands the organization is charitable and in order to maintain its federal tax exemption it must engage primarily in activities which accomplish one or more of its tax-exempt purposes.”

“Staff compensation packages, including both annual salary and benefits, are determined and assigned by the Executive Director, with the exception of the Executive Director, whose compensation is determined by the Board of Directors. The factors considered in determining compensation include seniority, experience and level of responsibility, including staff supervision and level of contact with our Community members, funders, media and other external partners. The Project also uses benchmark surveys for non-profit compensation to ensure competitiveness with similar sized peer organizations.”

“Staff compensation packages, including both annual salary and benefits, are determined and assigned by the Executive Director.”

“Federal Tax Returns are available at guidestar.org & charitynavigator.org.”

“Governing documents are available for public inspection at the principal place of business.The conflict of interest policy and the organization's financial statements are available upon request.”

“Audit was completed after filing deadline. Amendment needed due to minor changes from audit report and marked audit required and completed on tax return.”