Center for International Environmental Law Inc.

“On an annual basis and in time to comply with the irs' filing deadline, ciel's cfo will provide the necessary financial and narrative information to ciel's auditors, who will then prepare a draft form 990, complete with the relevant financial information and supporting schedules. Once the auditors have provided the cfo with an acceptable draft form 990, he will submit the draft form 990 in .pdf format, by email, to ciel's full board of trustees, inviting their review and comments. The cfo will schedule a meeting of the audit committee to provide for its opportunity to review and comment. Agreed-to changes will be incorporated before a final signed copy of the form 990 is emailed to the full ciel board of trustees, also before filing with the irs.”

“Annually, ciel requires each trustee, officer, employee earning more than $125,000 per year including benefits, substantial contributor and agent of ciel: (1) to review ciel's conflict-of-interest guidelines; (2) to disclose on the form provided, any possible business, familial, or personal relationship that reasonably could give rise to a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest; and (3) to acknowledge by his or her signature that he or she is acting in accordance with the letter and spirit of such guidelines. Completed and signed forms are kept in the office of the cfo who reviews all pending grants, contract and payments for any potential conflict of interest. Rather than completing a new form each year, trustees may also indicate in writing that no changes need to be made to their previously completed forms. If a potential conflict should arise, the related board member or party will recuse themselves from all discussion and voting regarding the matter in question.”

“As part of a program to consistently and effectively manage the compensation of all individuals employed by ciel, the organization has developed a base salary administration policy. Base salary administration is built around the use of detailed position descriptions, an individual qualifications evaluation process, a market-based salary comparability analysis performed by an independent consultant, and the resulting salary ranges for each position type within the organization. All other related benefits are applied uniformly to all individuals employed by ciel. Considering this salary range information, ciel's board of trustees negotiates and approves any new president's salary and related compensation. The board of trustees also must first review and approve any periodic cost of living salary increases as contained in ciel's annual budget. The last compensation review was completed on may 8, 2020.”

“The organization makes its governing documents and its conflict of interest policy available to the public upon request. The organization also makes its audited financial statements and form 990s for the past ten years available on its website.”

“Once every 5 years, ciel's cfo solicits proposals for services from 3-5 independent audit firms to conduct the annual financial audit and assist with compilation of the annual irs form 990. He reviews the proposals and with input from ciel's president, makes a recommendation to the audit committee. The audit committee reviews the proposals and recommendation, and makes a motion to the full board of trustees for ultimate approval of ciel's independent auditors, generally for a period covering the next five fiscal years. The audit committee also meets with the selected auditors on an annual basis to review and accept the final drafts of the annual fiscal audit report and irs form 990.”