CIVIC News Company

“The organization has an agreement for certain administrative and consulting services with trinet. All employees are co-employees of the organization and trinet. Trinet provides payroll, hr consulting services and performs other outsourced hr functions. The organization paid trinet $100,909 for these services in fiscal year 2020.”

“There are currently no committees that is made up of the board members. The current board oversees all areas of the organization.”

“The form 990 was prepared by an outside cpa firm. The draft form 990 was reviewed by internal management. Upon completion of their review the form 990 was be circulated to chalkbeat's board members and was revised for any changes recommended by the board members before filing with the irs.”

“Chalkbeat has a written conflict of interest policy that applies to all board members and officers; in addition, the conflicts section of the code of ethics applies to employees. The board reviews the conflict of interest policy on an annual basis and each member of the board and all officers must sign an annual disclosure statement, where they are asked to disclose any possible conflict of interest. Staff are required to affirm the code of ethics, including the conflicts section, on an annual basis. It is the supervisor's responsibility to monitor compliance and alert management of any potential conflicts of interest. If a potential conflict arises, the interested party is asked to disclose all related details to the board or conflicts committee of the board. After making a presentation regarding his or her financial interest, the interested person shall leave the meeting while the committee or board discusses and votes on the transaction or arrangement to determine whether there is a conflict of interest. The committee or board shall recommend whether the organization should enter into the transaction or agreement. The decision of any actual or potential conflict of interest is documented in the minutes of the board meeting.”

“Chalkbeat has in place a set of compensation standards, which include salary guidance for the ceo, top officers and staff. These standards are reviewed at least every two years to make sure they reflect the current market. The standards include salary ranges, by position, as well as differentiation of salaries based on employer compensation data in different regions where staff live (such as form 990s of similar non-profits). The standards are informed by a review of peer organizations' compensation data and are reviewed and approved by chalkbeat's board of directors. The board of directors approves compensation and any related increases for the ceo based on a performance review process led by the chair of the board. The ceo's performance review and salary increase was most recently completed in july 2019 and was documented in the minutes of the board meetings. The ceo approves salary for all other officers and staff, in conjunction with an annual performance review process. This was last completed in summer 2019 and was documented in the hr files. Due to the covid-19 pandemic, salaries have been held constant since then.”

“The organization makes its form 990 available for public inspection as required under section 6104 of the internal revenue code. The return is posted on the organization's website, chalkbeat.org, as well as guidestar.org and other similar types of websites. In addition, the financial statements, conflict of interest policy, articles of incorporation and by-laws are also available upon written request at p.o. Box 300434, brooklyn ny 11230, or by calling the organization directly at (917)-388-9035.”