Filoli Center

“Management (the interim director of finance and accounting and the executive director) reviewed the form 990 provided by the tax preparing firm. Upon satisfaction, management provided a complete copy of the form 990 to the audit committee for a detailed review. Upon the audit committee's review, a public disclosure copy of the form 990 was provided to the board prior to filing.”

“With the employment of the new permanent executive director, certain governance practices that had been completed more on an adhoc basis were properly implemented in the last quarter of 2016. The revised policies were reviewed by counsel before providing to the board. The revised conflict of interests were received by board members well in advance of their required return. Copies are maintained administratively by the organization and will be updated annually.”

“The board annually reviews the executive director against a list of goals determined annually. The board will review the compensation of the finance and accounting director however, the executive director evaluates this position. All other key employees are evaluated by the executive director. It is noted that in 2015 the board terminated the executive director's employment in november 2015. Final separation wages were not paid until 2016. The separation wages were negotiated at the board level with no staff involvement. Upon hiring the new executive director in september 2016, the organization, with the assistance of an executive search firm, assessed the going rate for the executive director's position based on the organization size, complexity and geographic location. All key positions are budgeted and such budget is reviewed in detail by the finance committee who provides its recommendation to the board for approval.”

“The governing documents, conflict of interest policy and the financial statements are made available upon request for the same period of time set forth in sec. 6104(d).”

“In late 2012, the governing board hired a new executive director. One of her many directives from the governing board was to review all the revenue streams received by filoli and determine what category they properly belonged in. During 2014, the executive director with the concurrence of the governing board, determined that prior years' classifications of certain program event revenue as fundraising revenue was not appropriate. The events are primarily program based and while they do bring in resources to filoli, the primary objective of the events are program and mission related not fundraising. Attendees to the program events are provided unlimited access to the property and are provided program information about the property. As a result of this analysis, program events that were classified as fundraising events in the past have been classified as program revenue since 2014.”

“Filoli maintains an active list of members who serve as volunteers. Members wishing to be volunteers are required to volunteer a minimum number of hours to qualify for volunteer status based on the committee(s) on which they serve. Volunteers perform a variety of functions including but not limited to: event coordination and staffing; assistance with garden maintenance; assistance with various education courses offered; visitor center assistance; membership assistance; docent duties in the mansion and garden; etc.”