Willamette University

“Roderick wendt, trustee, and steven wynne, trustee, are in a business relationship. Eva kripalani, trustee, and elizabeth large, trustee, are in a business relationship.”

“The draft form 990 is uploaded to a secure website that can only be accessed by members of the audit committee. The audit committee reviews and discusses the return. Next, the draft form 990 is uploaded to a secure website that can be accessed by all members of the board of trustees. They are notified via email that the form is available for their review. After the form has been made available for review by all noted parties, it is modified (if necessary), finalized, and submitted to the irs.”

“Trustees, officers and key employees must complete and sign a conflict of interest questionnaire, returning it to the president's office (officers and trustees) or the controller's office (key employees). The board's process for addressing conflicts of interest in accordance with the adopted above-referenced policy is as follows: "if an individual believes that he or she may have a conflict of interest, the individual shall promptly and fully disclose the conflict on a form to the chairman of the board of trustees or president, or the chair of any committee of the board considering the matter, and shall refrain from participating on behalf of the university in the matter to which the conflict relates until the conflict question has been waived by vote of the board of trustees or a committee of the board after the material facts of the transaction and the individual's interest are disclosed or known to the board or committee of the board, or otherwise resolved in compliance with the oregon nonprofit corporation act (ors ch. 65)." the board chair, board treasurer, and administrative secretary to the board monitor compliance on an ongoing basis. Monitoring activities may include review of meeting minutes by the administrative secretary to identify potential/developing conflicts or conflicts that may have already occurred and informal discussions with committee chairs or board officers to raise awareness of conflicts and potential conflicts.”

“An ad hoc committee of members of the board of trustees established the compensation for the president of the university. The committee consisted of three members who did not have a conflict of interest per irs regulations section 53.4958-6(c)(1)(iii). In order to establish an appropriate level of compensation, the committee gathered data from similar sized private liberal arts colleges located in the northwestern united states. The data from the schools was obtained directly from each institution. In addition, a nationwide review of compensation as reported on the 990's of other similar sized private liberal arts universities was performed. Once the amount was decided upon, the information was passed on to the executive committee. The executive committee subsequently approved the compensation package. The last time this process was undertaken by the university was in august of 2014. In order to establish an appropriate level of compensation, the compensation committee of the board (made up of the chair, vice chair, and audit chair) reviews data from (a) positions in similarly-situated institutions; (b) positions in markets outside higher education where appropriate; (c) internal equity; and, (d) the knowledge, performance, skill, and other relevant factors of the person in the position to determine appropriate compensation for candidates/occupants of executive and key employee positions. The compensation data is collected from national and regional surveys, as well as other sources. The compensation committee approves compensation for executive and key employees based on these factors and data. The last time this process was undertaken by the university was in the fiscal year ending 2020.”

“The university filed for tax exemption before july 15, 1987 and did not have a copy of form 1023 on file at that time and is therefore not required to make form 1023 publicly available. The university instead posts a copy of its current irs exemption letter on its website.”

“Audited financial statements, bylaws and articles of incorporation are posted on the university's website. The university's conflict of interest policy is not made available to the public.”

“The treasurer of the organization is not considered a trustee but is considered a member of the executive committee of the board of directors. This position is reported as a director/trustee on the form 990 because members of the executive committee have the right to vote on certain board matters.”

“Change in value of annuities and trusts -586,875. Unrelated business income from alternative investments -312,843. Noncash employee benefits not recorded on financial statements 63,030. Pledge write-off due to nonperformance -36,165. Post-retirement liability adjustment -1,851,377. Unrealized fund investment income 41,123.”