Maryland Agricultural Education

“No formal review of the 990 occurs at the board of directors level, but a review does take place by the foundation's finance committee. After the return is prepared by the foundation's auditors, a draft copy of the return is provided to the foundation for its review. The accountant first agrees all amounts to the general ledger and financial statements and discusses any questions with the auditors. Once this is completed the accountant reviews the entire return with the executive director and then the return is distributed to the finance committee for their review. All questions are then summarized and discussed with the auditor. All required changes are made by the auditor and a final return is reviewed and signed by the executive director.”

“The foundation has a conflict of interest policy and annually management discusses this important document with the board of directors and has them sign the agreement to insure it is current.”

“The foundation's top management individual, the executive director, is evaluated on an annual basis by the executive committee. Each committee member completes a confidential and comprehensive, written evaluation of the executive director and forwards that document to the president of the board. The president compiles the information into a summary evaluation and then sits down with the executive director to go over the evaluation. Any compensation adjustments are made only after this process is complete.”

“All of the foundation's governing documents are kept in the foundation's main office. Being public documents, they are available to anyone upon request. The foundation maintains a website that includes public information regarding programming and outreach. An annual report is published each november and mailed to over 3,000 individuals and businesses in the agriculture and education communities. This report is available to anyone upon request. Additionally, the foundation retains copies of the annual audit for review by anyone upon request. These audit reports are also included with most grant applications. Additional information regarding the foundation's outreach efforts is also posted on the national ag in the classroom website at www.agclassroom.org.”

“The oversight and selection process has not changed during the tax year.”