Nazareth Educational Ministries Association Inc.

“990 part vi, section a - line 8b. Fon does not have any committee with authority to act on behalf of the board of directors.”

“The board of directors reviews the 990 annual prior to approval and submission with to the irs.”

“The organization reviews any potential conflict of interest policy annually.”

“990 part vi, section b - line 15 a. The fon executive director was a volunteer and did not receive any compensation.”

“990 part vi, section b - line 15 b. The fon president's salary was approved by the fon board of directors.”

“The organization is a member of the evangelical council of financial accountability (ecfa). Edfa provides accreditation to christian nonprofit organizations that faithfully demonstrate compliance with standards for financial accountability, transparancy, and board governance. The organization's financial data, including irs form 990, is availabe for review by the public on the ecfa website. Ecfa has awarded this organization their seal of approval. The organization is also a member of guidestar. Budestar provies trusted information and evaluation of nonprofit organizations and has awarded this organization their "gold star" which is only achieved by 2% of its members. Gold star's website provides financial information (including the irs form 990), program and governance information for this organization. Our website also states that financial date is available upon request.”

“Part i questions 1b and 2 - not applicable. Friends of nazareth (fon) has written policies regarding payments to directors, trustees, and officers. The executive director is responsible to ensure all expenses are properly documented, supported, and are within the fon policies and procedures. One board member, dr. Sarah mielke, is designated as the corporate treasurer and has the responsibility to provide a separate review. Fon has a robust set of ethical guidelines (code of conduct) to avoid any actual or potential conflicts of interest.”

“The nazareth educational ministries association (nema) inc., which does business as the friends of nazareth (fon), is dedicated to supporting the nazareth baptist school (nbs), nazareth, israel. Fon serves at the invitation of nbs. Fon: helps, expands, and enriches a plethora of k-12 biblical-based programs; helps nbs repair, renew, and revitalize the physical plant; helps plan and lead christian worldwide programs for teachers, parents, and students; works with the nbs board on relocation plans.”

“990 part iii - line 3 - the friends of nazareth (fon) programs to support nazareth baptist school (nbs) were significantly impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. Normally, fon provides financial support (grant) and teams to assist the nazareth baptist school (nbs) in conducting four (4) summer camps for 750 children. The 2020 summer camps were cancelled due to covid-19 restrictions. Additionally, three other fon team trips were cancelled during 2020.”

“The nazareth baptist school (nbs) facility has been neglected for many years due to lack of funding. There are infrastructure issues that have accumulated. Unprecendented rains, earthquake threats, and the global pandemic have exposed many of the deficiencies. Since fiscal year 2018, friends of nazareth (fon) has been assisting nbs with repairs and renovations needed to keep the school open and safe for its 1,000 students. Prior to the covid-19 pandemic, teams from the usa helped renovate the chapel. During the 2020 pandemic lockdown, fon funded the prayer room renovation. Due to increased earthquake activity, the israeli minister of education conducted a review of the school and identified a risk of a collapse of the high school wing if there was a major earthquake. This need was addressed and remediated. Throughout the campus, safety and health subpar academic issues were identified and addressed. Examples are: upgrading the computer lab, modernizing restrooms, adding a pa system and repairing water damage. Due to the pandemic, the school was closed for an extended period during this fiscal year which allowed infrastructure work to be accomplished. 194,589.67 in revenue was raised in several matching fund campaigns to help fund infrastructure initiatives and remediate safety and health concerns. The balance of the grants were from general funds.”

“Due to the covid pandemic, the school had to conduct classes by video conference. The difficulty in addressing this requirement led to a study of the school's computer resources. The existing computers were old, and the school lacked adequate bandwidth to meet the school's growing needs. Friends of nazareth (fon) and nazareth baptist school (nbs) conducted a study of existing resoures and developed a digital initiative plan to address the school's needs. In addition to the computer and network systems, the study identified issues with safety systems including fire and video surveillance systems. Fon provided a grant of 94,765 to assist the school in implementing the digital initiative plan. In addition to addressing the needs imposed by the covid video conference classes, the plan helped position the school to meet its academic needs. Nbs is one of the top-ranked academic schools in israel.”

“The nazareth children and family ministry is a program at the school designed to minister to the spiritual needs of students and their families. Dr. Elizabeth and mike brookshire are appointees with the southern baptist convention (sbc) international mission board (imb). They are supported and managed by the imb, however, they must raise donations for their support. Friends of nazareth (fon) supports this ministry. Fon provides support for their housing and other ministry costs including transportation and program expenses such as the mothers day program, which has an annual program budget of 18,000. Shandon baptist church, columbia, sc is the imb church sponsor for the brookshires. Shandon also agreed to financial support for three (3)years. Each year the support decreases. Due to leadership changes at shandon, the church stopped accepting donations on behalf of the brookshires. Fon agreed to accept donations for their support as children and family ministry (cafm) is one of fon's initiatives. Donations for cafm are subject to a 5% administration fee. The remainder of the donation is placed in reserve for their financial support and is paid out monthly. Fon absorbs credit card fees. Dr. Elizabeth brookshire is a member of the fon board of directors, however, the imb manages her efforts as an imb appointee. They are not fon employees. Dr. Brookshire will rotate off the fon board of directors in september, 2021. See schedule f for additional details.”

“990 part iii, line 4. Other program services. A 9,740 grant to the nazareth baptist school was for the potter's wheel club, an after-school program. A 6,995 grant to the nazareth baptist school was for a robotics program. The (22,073) negative revenue was driven by expenses and refunds associated with cancelling two trips (mother's day program and renovation team) in march, 2020 when israel locked down entry to the country due to the pandemic.”