Starlight Children'S Foundation

“Shawn harpen is involved in a volunteer capacity with, and sarah cramer is an employee of, an unrelated organization, which has no transactions with the foundation.”

“The foundation's staff works closely with an independent accounting firm engaged to prepare the return. The final draft of form 990 is also reviewed by the cfo and ceo. A complete copy of the final form 990 is then reviewed by the audit committee prior to it being provided to all voting board members via email for review and comment prior to filing with the irs.”

“The conflict of interest policy is monitored by the operations department. Pursuant to the policy, all covered persons (i.e., board members, officers, executive leadership and other employees), when they become a covered person and annually thereafter, are required to sign a conflict of interest and ethics assurance statement affirming that he/she has read, understands and agrees to comply with the conflict of interest policy. All covered persons are also required to complete an annual questionnaire aimed at identifying any related party transactions that may pose a potential conflict of interest. The completed questionnaires are reviewed by the operations department. Under the bylaws, related party transactions may be approved by the board if specified standards are met and procedures followed, including full disclosure of the material facts concerning the transaction, a majority vote without counting the vote (and outside the presence) of the interested party and a determination by the board in good faith that starlight children's foundation could not have obtained a more advantageous arrangement with reasonable effort under the circumstances. In addition, related party transactions may be ratified by the board (or a committee or person authorized by the board) subject to the same standards and procedural protections when it is not reasonably practicable to obtain board approval in advance. Such approval is not required for employment agreements or for reimbursement of directors or officers for legal fees and expenses reasonably incurred in the performance of their obligations or for indemnification permitted under the bylaws.”

“The human resources and compensation committee (hrcc) is accountable for recommendations to the board for its approval of the compensation packages for the ceo and cfo. No member of the hrcc has a conflict of interest with respect to compensation arrangements. The hrcc process includes: (1) establishing goals and objectives, consistent with the foundation's mission and corporate strategy, with which to evaluate the ceo's annual performance: (2) monitoring the ceo's and cfo's performance against the mission and corporate goals and strategies: (3) review of the terms of compensation packages for the ceo and cfo: and (4) evaluation of publicly available comparability data utilizing national nonprofit compensation surveys.”

“The organization's form 990 is posted on the organization's website. The form 990 and form 1023 are also available upon request.”

“The financial statements are available to the public on the organization's website. The governing documents and the conflict of interest policy are available upon request.”

“John rosenberg's long-standing tenure termed out as stated in the corporate bylaws. As such, mr. Rosenberg stepped down as chair of the organization effective january 1, 2024 and transitioned to a non-voting advisory role.”

“Alisa bowen became chair of the organization effective january 1, 2024.”

“Howard cohl, who was serving as secretary of the organization in 2023, was appointed as vice chair effective january 1, 2024.”

“Starlight has elected to characterize the various programs by which it provides toys, gaming units, hospital gowns and other goods to hospitalized children as one all-encompassing program to align with the statement of functional expenses reporting format. In addition, the organization is collaborating in a new program, prescription for play, which was not listed on the prior year's form 990. This program supports pediatric patients during visits to their doctors by providing medically appropriate toys and play-based resources that promote healing and development. Collaborating with the lego group and the weitzman institute (the innovation and research arm of the moses/weitzman health system, a 501(c)(3)), starlight participates in the process of "prescribing play" to reduce stress, encourage learning, and improve patient outcomes.”

“To conform with the current year presentation, pledges receivable and accounts receivable have been presented separately for 2023.”