Puerto Rico Conservation Trust Fund

“The trust is a charitable trust created pursuant to puerto rico law and its governing documents. Its deed of trust which, consistent with trust law, entrusts upon the board of trustees the authority with respect to the general governance of the trust and its assets. Pursuant to the deed of trust the trustees are assisted in the day-to day-management of the trust by an executive director and, further, by an advisory council created by the deed of trust. The advisory council is responsible generally for making recommendations to the trustees on trust fund expenditures directed at fulfilling the trust's mission. Both the board of trustees and the advisory council regularly meet and keep minutes of their respective meetings. There are no other governance bodies contemplated by the deed of trust, whether committees or any others.”

“The comptroller reviews the final draft and then passes it to the legal counsel for a second review. It then goes to the executive director, who, in turn, directs it to the trustees. The trustees have two days to react or comment. After this period, the draft is considered approved.”

“Both the puerto rico conservation trust and para la naturaleza, inc. Have written policies governing conflicts of interest. These policies are regularly and thoroughly reviewed by the legal department and external counsel. Furthermore, as a compliance requirement, both policies must be affirmed yearly by members of the board of trustees and of pln's governing board. The goal of these policies is to raise awareness and encourage disclosure and discussion of possible conflicts of intertest, creating a corporate environment of openness and transparency. The policy requires disclosure of potential or actual conflict of interest and bars interested trustees from voting on matters in which conflict may or effectively does exist. Prct's policy determines whether any director, principal officer or member of a committee with governing board delegated powers have conflicting interests. Furthermore, being an accredited member of the land trust alliance (lta), prct's conflict of interest policy follows the land trust standards and practices which requires inclusion in the policy of a group people who are not part of the decision-making process but may have the ability to influence decisions. This group includes substantial contributors or parties related to any insiders who has direct or indirect financial interest, and other people who may have access to confidential information such as former employees or directors. Prct policy addresses different types of conflicting interest: 1. Direct financial interest example: a trustee has a company that provides services to the organization, resulting in the trustee receiving income from the profits. 2. Indirect financial interest example: a spouse or child of a trustee is hired by the organization. 3. Nonfinancial gain, benefit to a member example: a trustee or someone related to a trustee receives a service from the organization or uses any asset of the organization at no cost, when all others must pay for that same service. As per management of conflicts, the policy states the following process. What typically happens when a trustee realizes that either another trustee or that same trustee has a conflict of interest is that a notification is made to the board of trustees. Prct's board of trustees does not have any standing committees, so consideration of the matter is brought before the whole board. The board is responsible with investigating the possible conflict of interest and requiring the appropriate divulgations or corrective actions. The board of trustees should decide whether it is possible to pursue another transaction or action that does not pertain conflicting interests. It is prct and pln policy to avoid all types of real or apparent conflict of interests and transactions in which conflicting interests arise are strongly discouraged. The conflicted trustee is removed from participating in any decision regarding the possible conflict of interest. In conclusion, prct's conflict of interest policy effectively protects the organization from issues regarding conflicts of interest by maintaining a disclosure requirement and prohibiting participation of conflicted members or officers. The policy complies with irs instructions on the form 990 requiring a written policy, annual disclosure and monitoring. Furthermore, the policy adopts lta standard and practices to expand how a conflicting interest are determined.”

“The trust's governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available to the public upon request. All petitions of information requested through the mail, telephone, electronic mail or website, are channeled through the legal council, who distributes the documents to the requester.”

“Other changes in net assets - 12718436; Total - 12718436;”