Black Warrior Electric Membership

“Black Warrior Electric Membership Corporation is organized as a not-for-profit membership corporation whose members have identical voting rights and are assigned margins in accordance with the cooperative's bylaws.”

“Black Warrior Electric Membership Corporation's bylaws provide that its Board of Trustees is to be elected by the members of the Cooperative at a meeting of members if the bylaw quorum requirement that 5% of the members attend the annual meeting is met.”

“The membership must approve decisions that involve substantial transfers of cooperative assets, amendments to the cooperative's bylaws, as well as other decisions requiring approval of the membership by law, the articles of incorporation, and/or the cooperative's bylaws.”

“The Manager and accounting staff review the Form 990. The Form 990 is then distributed to each Trustee at the monthly meeting prior to filing with the Internal Revenue Service. The Board of Trustees then reviews and approves the Form 990 before it is filed with the Internal Revenue Service.”

“Each year, members of the organization's governing body are required to disclose any conflicts of interest on a questionnaire.”

“The organization participates in a statewide salary and benefit survey among the rural cooperatives. The results of the survey are presented by management annually to the organization's governing body for review and salary adjustments. This process is reflected in the minutes of the Board of Trustees' meeting.”

“The organization's governing documents, policies, and financial statements are available upon request for review at its main office by appointment.”

“The instructions to the 2015 Form 990 indicate that organizations exempt from tax under Section 501(c)(12) should report patronage dividends paid to their members in Part IX, Line 4 of the Form 990. Black Warrior Electric Membership Corporation has interpreted the words "patronage dividends paid" in the instructions to mean margins that are assigned or assignable to the members. According to Black Warrior Electric Membership Corporation's bylaws, the net margins of the cooperative are assigned and allocated to the members. Therefore, the amount listed in Part IX, Line 4 represents the entire net margins assignable to the members for the calendar year ended December 31, 2015.”

“Change in memberships -390. Other comprehensive income -2,889,584. Assignment of net margins to members 1,433,365. Patronage gains 8,835.”

“Black Warrior Electric Membership Corporation did not change its processes of selection or oversight for the year ended December 31, 2015.”