Happy Trails for Kids

“Jonathan abrams (chairman of the board) and susan abrams (board member and president) have a family relationship. Both susan and jon were instrumental in shaping the organization. They continue to be very active with the organization in terms of strategic planning, operations and fundraising. Both are volunteers, receive zero compensation, and have no financial or business relationships with happy trails aside from making donations. The other five unrelated board members have determined that susan's and jon's institutional knowledge and continued value to the organization outweigh any concerns with having siblings as board members.”

“The organization does not have subcommittees acting on behalf of the board.”

“Chairman, president, executive director and treasurer review the draft of form 990 and provide comments and questions.”

“Each director, officer, employee, and volunteer (interested person) shall annually disclose all conflicts of interest in writing on the organization's disclosure form in accordance with the policy and sign a statement that affirms that such person has received a copy, has read and understands, has agreed to comply with, and has no conflict of interest to report or is reporting current conflict of interest. An interested person must disclose the existence of any actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest as soon as such interested person identifies that there may be a conflict of interest, and before the organization enters into the proposed transaction or arrangement that gives rise to the conflict of interest. The board members, other than the conflicted interested person(s), shall decide if a conflict of interest exists. A voting member of the board who receives compensation, directly or indirectly, from the organization for services is precluded from voting on matters pertaining to that member's compensation. If the board has reasonable cause to believe an interested person has failed to disclose an actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest, it shall inform the interested person of the basis for such belief and afford the interested person an opportunity to explain the alleged failure to disclose. If, after hearing the interested person's response and after making further investigation as warranted by the circumstances, the board determines the interested person has failed to disclose an actual, potential, or perceived conflict of interest, it shall take appropriate disciplinary and corrective action, up to and including termination of employment or volunteering, or removal from the board.”

“Executive base salary and annual bonuses are determined by the independent board members, led by the independent chairman. The base salary is contractual and derived from studies by independent written sources (with primary reliance on the most current center for nonprofit management compensation and benefits report). Annual bonuses follow a formal written evaluation by the independent board members of (a) executive performance, (b) organizational financials and (c) comparability data (provided verbally by the independent chairman).”

“The organization makes its governing documents available to the public upon request. The conflict of interest policy is available on the organization's website.”