Willamette University

“Brian hufft and chip kruger are more than 10% owners in the same startup venture. Eva kripalani and elizabeth large are business partners.”

“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 tha 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 and return it to the president's office (officers and trustees) or the controller's office (key employees) annually. 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 that goes to the chair of the audit committee and shall refrain from participating on behalf of the university in the matter to which the conflict relates until the conflict in question has been waived or otherwise addressed by vote of the audit committee after the material facts of the transaction and the individual's interest are disclosed or known to the committee, 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.”

“A compensation committee of the board of trustees (made up of the chair, finance chair, and audit chair) establishes and reviews the compensation for the president of the university. The committee consists of three members who do 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 reviews a range of compensation data, including regional and national surveys. In addition, a review of compensation as reported in the 990's of other similar sized private liberal arts universities is performed. Once a salary is determined, the information is passed on to the executive committee. The last time this process was undertaken by the university was in may of 2022. The compensation committee also approves compensation for executive and key employees based on 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. The compensation data is collected from national and regional surveys, as well as other sources. The last time this process was undertaken by the university was in the fiscal year ending 2022.”

“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 -2,329,123. Noncash employee benefits not recorded on financial statements 80,009. Unrelated business income from alternative investments -854,923. Tuition remission not recorded on financial statements 49,574. Post-retirement liability adjustment -89,649. Pledge write offs -5,000.”