How to Build Up Inc

“Form 990 is prepared by an independent CPA firm and reviewed in detail by the organization's top management. The reviewed Form 990 is then provided to the board of directors prior to filing with the IRS.”

“The organization requires all officers and board members to annually complete and sign a conflict of interest questionnaire. The board Chair and Treasurer have co-responsibility for reviewing the signed statements and ensuring that interested persons are in compliance with the conflict of interest policy. The board Chair is responsible for reviewing the board Treasurer's statement, and the Treasurer is responsible for reviewing the board Chair's statement to ensure there is independence in the review process for all board members and officers. Should any potential conflicts of interest be disclosed, the board member or officer would be asked to refrain from participation in any deliberation or decision with regard to matters affected by the relationship.”

“How To Build Up, Inc. has a unique policy for setting the salaries of our core staff and international consultants that is need based, recognizing those contributing to our efforts are not seeking profitable careers but rather purposeful careers. While we have not conducted a formal comparative analysis of salaries with contemporaneous substantiation of the deliberations, all of our salaries are not only reviewed by the Board of Directors, but also by the funders who are seeking our services. Because the procurement of our services are often done through a competitive process, and always must comply with government protocol requirements, we believe our salaries, including the CEO Helena Puig Larrauri, are scrutinized both by our internal governance and external funding agencies. Because there are sector leaders aware of compensation levels both on our board and with our funders, we believe the level of scrutiny makes us compliant with best practices. We know for a fact from our own salary histories before establishing Build Up, that we are being compensated far less than when in previous similar positions. Each salary is proposed transparently in a salary request and decided upon by the core members of the team and approved by the Board. Build Up ensures that rates are in line with historical rates in the field based upon our extensive experience in the sector (both core team and board members). The process is documented both at the time the requests are made at Build Up's annual retreat and when salaries are approved as a part of the annual Board meeting where the budget for the upcoming year is reviewed.In addition, a comparative analysis of compensation and benefits was performed in 2023 which confirmed that officer compensation and benefits are reasonable compared to other similar nonprofit organizations, such that the answers to these questions will be "yes" on future filings.”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy, and financial statements are available upon request.”

“Core consultants: Program service expenses 519,258. Management and general expenses 16,737. Fundraising expenses 22,316. Total expenses 558,311. Contractors: Program service expenses 291,473. Management and general expenses 0. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 291,473.”