Issaquah Schools Foundation

“The 990 is first reviewed by the finance committee and then presented to the full board for review prior to filing.”

“The directors and employees are required to review and sign the conflict of interest policy at the start of their employment or board term and again annually at the start of each fiscal year. If a director or employee believes that he or she has a conflict of interest, the director or employee must report the conflict to the executive committee. Upon review, if the executive committee determines that there is a conflict of interest, the director or employee is prohibited from participating in deliberations and decisions regarding the transaction.”

“The foundation has a compensation policy which states that the foundation will pay at the midpoint of the non-profit salary survey. We benchmark against other non-profits achieving comparable revenue who do similar work. The executive director sets and recommends staff compensation based on policy. This recommendation is presented to the human resources committee for oversight of policy; recommendation is then made to the finance committee and then to executive committee before approval by full board.”

“The foundation makes its governing documents and conflict of interest policy available to the public by request. Our financial statements are available online at www.isfdn.org and are mailed to donors via an annual report.”

“Two board members, Swati and Sachin, are married. In addition, Laila Collins serves as Mike Kernish's personal accountant.”

“The foundation ceased the voice program as it was transitioned over to the district. As students began remotely learning due to the pandemic, the foundation provided additional funding for online learning resources to aid in academic support. There were no more in person events the rest of the school year and as such, programs moved to virtual platforms as much as possible.”

“LISTED BELOW ARE THE PROGRAMS FOR THE 2019-2020 SCHOOL YEAR (FY20 IN FOUNDATION BOOKKEEPING) BASED ON PROGAM EXPENSES: 1. ACADEMIC SUPPORT - $206,749 (including grants of $206,749) ACADEMIC SUPPORT CONSISTS OF 3 PROGRAMS, 1 AT EACH SCHOOL LEVEL. THE AFTER SCHOOL ASSISTANCE PROGRAM (ASAP) PROVIDES FUNDING FOR CERTIFIED STAFF TO HELP STUDENTS IN MATH, READING OR WRITING AT 5 TITLE 1 ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. THE PROGRAM SERVED 152 STUDENTS. NO POST TESTING WAS PERFORMED DUE TO THE CLOSURE OF SCHOOLS IN MARCH. AFTER SCHOOL HOMEWORK CLUBS WERE ALSO OFFERED AT ALL MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOLS WITH NO PRE-TO-POST TESTING. THESE CLUBS WERE UTILIZED BY APPROXIMATELY 7,000 STUDENTS. THE FOUNDATION WAS ALSO ABLE TO SUPPORT THE DISTRICT WITH FUNDS FOR 3 SOFTWARE PROGRAMS (1 FOR EACH LEVEL) TO SUPPORT ACADEMICS AS SCHOOLING WENT ONLINE DUE TO THE PANDEMIC. 2. GRANTS - $50,322 (including grants of $50,322) TEACHER GRANTS PROVIDE TEACHERS WITH FUNDING FOR PROJECTS THAT ENRICH EDUCATION, FILL UNMET NEEDS, AND SERVE AS INCUBATORS FOR INNOVATION. THE FOUNDATION PARTNERS WITH THE DISTRICT TO FUND THESE GRANTS, AND IF PROVEN VALUABLE TO STUDENT LEARNING, REPLICATE THESE SOLUTIONS ACROSS THE DISTRICT. LAST YEAR, THE FOUNDATION FUNDED 22 GRANTS, WITH MOST GRANTS HAVING A MULTI-YEAR IMPACT. 3. COMMUNITY PROGRAMS - $45,902 THE MAJORITY OF COMMUNITY PROGRAMS FUNDING IS SPENT ON BUYING NEW BACKPACKS AND SCHOOL SUPPLIES AS PART OF THE TOOLS4SCHOOL PROGRAM IN PARTNERSHIP WITH THE ISSAQUAH FOOD & CLOTHING BANK. 850 BACKPACKS WITH SCHOOL SUPPLIES WERE DISTRIBUTED TO STUDENTS K-12. COMMUNITY PROGRAMS ALSO PROVIDE A SMALL GRANT TO ISSAQUAH SCHOOL DISTRICT NURSES FOR SPECIFIC NURSING NEEDS. 4. Remaining programs and overhead - $422,321 (including grants of $122,754)”