Make a Wish Foundation of Greater Bay Area

“The organization worked closely with an independent public accounting firm engaged to prepare the return. The draft return prepared by the accounting firm was reviewed by the organization's executive director and by the finance committee. Subsequent to the committee's approval, a complete copy of the final return was provided to all voting members prior to filing with the irs.”

“The organization maintains a conflict of interest and ethics statement as provided by the make-a-wish foundation of america for each officer, employee, board member, and volunteer. Such statements must be signed upon date of hire, election, or commencement of volunteer service and at least annually thereafter. The signed statements are then submitted to and reviewed by the volunteer coordinator if they are volunteers or the executive director if from staff or board members. Review of the statements is monitored by the executive director. The procedures for addressing any conflicts of interest of which the executive director becomes aware includes, but are not limited to, the following: (1) determining the nature of the conflict via verbal or written communication with the interested person, (2) fully disclosing conflicting interests to the board, (3) the conflicted person recuses himself/herself from deliberations and decisions regarding the transaction, and (4) taking appropriate actions warranted by the conflict as recommended by the board up to and including termination of service.”

“The ceo/executive director's compensation was determined by the board of directors, consisting of independent persons. It was reviewed against national benchmarking salary studies, surveys done every few years by make-a-wish foundation of america, and by local salary surveys conducted by state organizations and by national benchmarking organizations. The board voted on the compensation. The board's discussions and decisions were contemporaneously documented. Documentation includes the terms of the transaction and the date it was approved, the members present during the deliberations and those who voted on it, and a description of comparability data relied upon and how it was obtained. Part vi,section b, line 15b: the foundation does not have other officers who are compensated and has no employees who meet the definition of key employees.”

“Although federal tax laws do not mandate that the organization's governing documents, conflict of interest policy and financial statements be made available for public inspection, the foundation posts its annual report, audited financial statements, and form 990 on its website and also makes such documents available to members of the public upon request.”

“The greater bay area make-a-wish foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy.”

“The greater bay area make-a-wish foundation grants the wishes of children with life-threatening medical conditions to enrich the human experience with hope, strength and joy. Children between the ages of 2.5 and 18 who have been determined to have a life-threatening medical condition qualify for our wish program and no child who meets these criteria is denied our services. The total cost of wishes granted for the fiscal year was $4,354,044. Of this amount, $1,053,544 was contributed by various vendors who provided in-kind contributions such as travel and travel services, transportation, lodging, and other services and use of facilities to complete a child's wish. For financial statement purposes, these amounts are included as contribution revenue and granted wish expense. For form 990 however, the irs requires the $1,053,544 of contributed services and use of facilities to be excluded from both revenue and expense.”