Chalkbeat Inc

“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 incurred $113,587 for services in fiscal year 2021.”

“The form 990 was prepared by an outside cpa firm. The 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. 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 leaves 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 recommends 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. Given the demands posed by the pandemic, in lieu of a full performance review the board documented unanimous approval of the ceo's performance in july 2020, and the ceo received a board-approved market increase in january 2021. This was documented in the minutes of the board meetings.”

“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 available upon written request at 450 seventh avenue, 32nd floor, new york, ny 10123, or by calling the organization directly at (917)-388-9035.”

“In 2020, chalkbeat expanded its local news reporting by launching the "pop up newsroom" votebeat providing independent nonpartisan coverage of election integrity in eight locations around the u.s. During votebeat's pilot as a three-month news project amid the 2020 election, votebeat scaled to 15 reporters in 10 newsrooms across eight states. Votebeat's most popular articles have been read by 20,000 to 85,000 people each, and its top articles have been reprinted thousands of times. Votebeat published over 300 articles about a huge range of issues and news developments in eight states, including: voting lawsuits; barriers to the ballot box for marginalized voters; new vote-by-mail processes; poll worker shortages; voter intimidation; the effect of covid on voting; facts about voting machines; ballot-counting and results-reporting logistics; ballot recounts, canvassing, and auditing; harassment of election workers; voter turnout; and the truth about fabricated vote-fraud claims.”

“The organization has an audit committee that assumes responsibility for the oversight of the audit and the selection of an independent accountant. The process has not changed from the prior year.”