Leading Harvest

“Kenny fahey, president and ceo, and lawrence a. Selzer, director - business relationship.”

“Leading harvest operates under a management services agreement with the conservation fund under which the conservation fund provides accounting and employment services to leading harvest. All leading harvest staff are employees of the conservation fund, fully seconded to leading harvest.”

“On january 20, 2022, the leading harvest board of directors approved an amendment to section 2.13 of the original bylaws to outline the automatic resignation of a director if they retire or otherwise change their employment.”

“Leading harvest (lh) contracts with the conservation fund (tcf), an unrelated entity, for certain administrative support services. Tcf engaged the independent auditing firm rsm to prepare leading harvest's form 990. Rsm is also engaged for tcf's annual audit of its own financial statements and form 990 preparation. Tcf finance and management staff and leading harvest's president and ceo directly participate in the preparation of the form, drafting responses to questions and reviewing the form 990 in draft. Lh's counsel reviews the full draft report. A draft of the 990 is also provided to the leading harvest board chairman and treasurer for review and comment prior to going to the full leading harvest board for comments and questions. Subsequent to the review and revision process, the form 990 is approved by the full leading harvest board, finalized and filed with the irs. Copies of the form are made available for public inspection.”

“Conflict policy copies are provided to each director and officer following the fall meeting of the board of directors. Each such person must sign to indicate that he/she/they has read the policy and understands the duties under it and return the conflict of interest certification before the end of the calendar year.”

“For lh officers and other key employees, lh looked at compatibility data as part of an engagement it had with a recruiting firm. The executive committee of the board then deliberated based on that data and made a decision, which was approved by the full board.”

“Leading harvest's financial summaries, governing documents and conflict of interest policy are available upon request for the period of disclosure as set forth in section 6104(d).”

“Leading harvest provides educational programs and independently audited certification standards to improve sustainability outcomes and create transparency in agriculture. The overarching purpose of leading harvest is to preserve and protect the natural environment for the benefit of the public at large by developing, administering, and improving sustainable agricultural standards for farmland management in collaboration with a broad cross-section of stakeholders representing environmental, social, and economic concerns, and to educate the general public about the benefits of environmentally sustainable, ethically sourced, and socially responsible agriculture, labor, and community practices. In pursuit of this purpose, leading harvest aspires to the following goals: to improve the condition of the soils, waters, and natural environmental systems that surround and support working farmlands; to promote a deeper understanding of the ecological systems that make the long-term agricultural uses of land possible; to protect these natural resources for the health and welfare of the general public, and for the benefit of future generations; and to promote and encourage the implementation of equitable governance and social structures for the benefit of workers on and operators of agricultural land.”

“Contractual services: program service expenses 74,912. Management and general expenses 26,554. Fundraising expenses 0. Total expenses 101,466.”