2013-10-22T13:08:23-05:00 2012-12-31 946214841 ARMANINO LLP 12667 ALCOSTA BOULEVARD SUITE 500 SAN RAMON CA 945834427 990 2012-01-01 680492065 PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE PUBL 4156241200 1160 BATTERY STREET NO 100 SAN FRANCISCO CA 94111 RICHARD HEWITT 4156241200 2013-10-22 1 LYNN HENLEY P00356034 9257902600 2012 2016-02-24 21:20:13Z RICHARD HEWITT 1160 BATTERY STREET NO 100 SAN FRANCISCO CA 94111 42792575 0 X WWW.PLOS.ORG X 2001 CA COMMITTED TO MAKING THE WORLD'S SCIENTIFIC AND MEDICAL LITERATURE A PUBLIC RESOURCE. 10 10 162 4664 518640 51340 654948 337184 21648452 33433009 190508 462903 0 785 22493908 34233881 0 0 0 0 9178696 12757245 0 0 0 9162968 14602927 18341664 27360172 4152244 6873709 11795524 20511192 3075125 4645558 8720399 15865634 X THE PUBLIC LIBRARY OF SCIENCE (PLOS) IS A NONPROFIT PUBLISHER AND ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION. THE MISSION OF PLOS IS TO ACCELERATE PROGRESS IN SCIENCE AND MEDICINE BY LEADING A TRANSFORMATION IN RESEARCH COMMUNICATION. EVERYTHING THAT PLOS PUBLISHES IS OPEN-ACCESS - FREELY AVAILABLE ONLINE FOR ANYONE TO USE. SHARING RESEARCH ENCOURAGES PROGRESS, FROM PROTECTING THE BIODIVERSITY OF OUR PLANET TO FINDING MORE EFFECTIVE TREATMENTS FOR DISEASES, SUCH AS CANCER.THE ORGANIZATION'S CORE OBJECTIVES ARE TO: - ELIMINATE UNNECESSARY BARRIERS TO IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY, ACCESS AND USE OF RESEARCH;- PURSUE A PUBLISHING STRATEGY THAT DRIVES OPENNESS, QUALITY, AND INTEGRITY;- DEVELOP INNOVATIVE APPROACHES TO THE CONTINUOUS ASSESSMENT, ORGANIZATION, AND SYNTHESIS OF IDEAS AND DATA.PLOS SUPPORTS OPEN ACCESS TO MAKE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLES IMMEDIATELY AND FREELY AVAILABLE TO ANYONE, ANYWHERE FOR THEM TO DOWNLOAD, PRINT, DISTRIBUTE, READ, AND REUSE WITHOUT CHARGE OR OTHER RESTRICTIONS. 0 0 21888597 32914369 SCIENCE AND MEDICAL PUBLISHING REMAINS THE CORE OF PLOS PROGRAM EXPENSE AT $22 MILLION. THE SEVEN PLOS JOURNALS ARE OPEN ACCESS AND EACH OF THEM IS RIGOROUSLY PEER-REVIEWED. PLOS BIOLOGY IS THE FIRST JOURNAL PUBLISHED BY PLOS AND COVERS ALL ASPECTS OF BIOLOGY. PLOS MEDICINE IS THE LEADING OPEN ACCESS MEDICAL JOURNAL, PROVIDING AN INNOVATIVE AND INFLUENTIAL VENUE FOR PRIMARY RESEARCH AND ANALYSIS ON THE MAJOR CHALLENGES TO HUMAN HEALTH WORLDWIDE. PLOS ONE HAS BECOME THE WORLD'S LARGEST PEER-REVIEWED OPEN ACCESS SCIENTIFIC JOURNAL, KNOWN FOR PIONEERING THE REPLACEMENT OF SUBJECTIVE EVALUATION MEASURES WITH OBJECTIVE EVALUATION CRITERIA FOCUSING ON TECHNICAL QUALITY, PUBLISHES PRIMARY RESEARCH FROM OVER 50 SCIENCE AND BIOMEDICAL DISCIPLINES. PLOS GENETICS PUBLISHES NEW RESEARCH IN GENETIC AND GENOMIC BIOLOGY. PLOS PATHOGENS PUBLISHES ORIGINAL RESEARCH AND A VARIETY OF FRONT MATTER ON THE BIOLOGY OF PATHOGENS AND HOST-PATHOGEN INTERACTIONS. PLOS NEGLECTED TROPICAL DISEASES IS DEVOTED TO THE STUDY OF HELMINTH, BACTERIAL, VIRAL, PROTOZOAN, AND FUNGAL INFECTIONS ENDEMIC TO TROPICAL REGIONS. PLOS COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY IS A SOCIETY JOURNAL, ALIGNED WITH THE INTERNATIONAL SOCIETY FOR COMPUTATIONAL BIOLOGY (ISCB), THAT PUBLISHES NEW RESEARCH IN ALL AREAS OF BIOLOGY USING COMPUTATIONAL METHODS.PLOS CONTINUES ITS EFFORTS TO DRIVE TOWARDS OPENNESS IN DATA USE AND RE-USE. OUR AIM IS FOR ANYONE TO BE ABLE TO ANALYZE DATA (TO REPEAT AUTHORS' RESULTS) AND REUSE DATA (TO BUILD ON THE AUTHORS' FINDINGS). IN PURSUIT OF THIS GOAL, WE ARE EXPANDING OUR PILOT PROGRAM WITH DRYAD. DRYAD HELPS OUR AUTHORS MAKE THEIR DATA RE-USEABLE AND ACCESSIBLE BY PROVIDING A PERMANENT OPEN ACCESS REPOSITORY AND ASSIGNING UNIQUE "DIGITAL OBJECT IDENTIFIERS" (DOIS) FOR EACH DATA "PACKAGE", COMPRISING ALL THE DATA ASSOCIATED WITH A SINGLE PUBLISHED ARTICLE. TWO OF OUR JOURNALS, PLOS BIOLOGY AND PLOS GENETICS, CAN NOW USE THE DRYAD REPOSITORY TO HOST DATA WHILE ARTICLES ARE UNDER REVIEW, PROVIDING CONFIDENTIAL ACCESS TO THE UNDERLYING DATA FOR EDITORS AND PEER-REVIEWERS. MEANWHILE, WE ARE WORKING TO EVOLVE THE SCIENTIFIC ARTICLE ITSELF INTO A MORE DYNAMIC, LIVING FORM OF COMMUNICATION. WE HAVE ESTABLISHED A NEW PARTNERSHIP WITH FIGSHARE TO MAKE THE DATA PUBLISHED IN OUR ARTICLES MORE ACCESSIBLE AND DISCOVERABLE. OUR FIGSHARE WIDGET DISPLAYS THE CONTENTS OF SUPPORTING INFORMATION FILES WITHIN THE ARTICLE, REGARDLESS OF FILE TYPE (WHETHER DATASET, TEXT, DOCUMENTS, ANIMATED, VIDEO, OR PRESENTATION FILES). THIS ALLOWS USERS TO SEARCH, MAGNIFY AND DOWNLOAD THE MATERIAL IN WAYS NOT PREVIOUSLY SUPPORTED. THESE DEVELOPMENTS HAVE COINCIDED WITH A FULL RE-DESIGN OF THE PLOS JOURNAL WEBSITES. THIS PROJECT HAD THREE PRIMARY GOALS: TO ENSURE READERS CAN QUICKLY ASSESS THE RELEVANCE AND IMPORTANCE OF AN ARTICLE; TO IMPROVE SITE NAVIGATION; AND TO LAUNCH A FLEXIBLE PLATFORM FROM WHICH TO BUILD OUT FUTURE INNOVATIONS. THE NEW WEBSITES OFFER MORE PROMINENT FIGURES, AN IMMEDIATELY ACCESSIBLE SUBSET OF ALM DATA CALLED METRICS SIGNPOSTS, CUSTOM SAVED SEARCH, AUTHOR DATA, FASTER NAVIGATION, AND MUCH MORE. THEY WERE AWARDED 'BEST IN CLASS' FOR NONPROFIT WEBSITES AT THE 2013 INTERACTIVE MEDIA AWARDS.PLOS ENCOURAGES THE EVALUATION OF RESEARCH AT THE ARTICLE LEVEL. WE WERE ONE OF THE FIRST PUBLISHERS TO PLACE ARTICLE-LEVEL METRICS (ALMS) ON EVERY ARTICLE. ALMS PROVIDE A FULL AND CONSTANTLY UPDATED PICTURE OF HOW A PAPER IS BEING USED FROM THE MOMENT IT IS PUBLISHED ONLINE. THEY PRESENT TRADITIONAL METRICS (SUCH AS CITATIONS AND ONLINE USAGE) ALONGSIDE MORE IMMEDIATE ALTERNATIVE MEASURES ("ALTMETRICS"), SUCH AS COVERAGE ON SOCIAL MEDIA. MANY OTHER PUBLISHERS HAVE SINCE ADOPTED THE IDEA AND NEW BUSINESSES ARE NOW EMERGING TO DEMONSTRATE RESEARCH IMPACT IN THESE WAYS.OVER THE LAST YEAR, WE HAVE UPDATED OUR ALM PROGRAM TO ALLOW USERS TO VIEW AND DOWNLOAD ALMS FOR ANY ARTICLE. THESE ALM REPORTS ENABLE USERS TO CHART THE DATA AND IDENTIFY PATTERNS AND TRENDS FOR FURTHER DISCUSSION. WE ALSO RELEASED THE FIRST ITERATION OF ALM RELATIVE METRICS TO PROVIDE CONTEXT: THEY DISPLAY THE AVERAGE USAGE CALCULATION FOR SIMILAR ARTICLES PUBLISHED IN THE SAME TIME PERIOD AND RESEARCH AREAS, ALLOWING USERS TO EVALUATE RELATIVE PERFORMANCE IN DIFFERENT FIELDS. IN NOVEMBER 2012, WE WELCOMED 45 THOUGHT LEADERS IN THE ALM COMMUNITY TO A WORKSHOP ON NEW WAYS TO MEASURE SCIENCE. REPRESENTATIVES FROM NOTABLE UNIVERSITIES, FUNDERS, LIBRARIES, PUBLISHERS AND DEVELOPERS GATHERED TO DISCUSS CURRENT CHALLENGES AND FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES. A CONCURRENT HACKATHON, WHICH WE CO-ORGANIZED WITH IMPACTSTORY, PROVIDED DEVELOPERS WITH AN OPPORTUNITY TO COLLABORATE ON EXPERIMENTS WITH ALTMETRICS DATA. WE ARE ALSO INVOLVED IN NATIONAL INFORMATION STANDARDS ORGANIZATION (NISO) EFFORTS TO BRING STANDARDS AND BEST PRACTICES TO ALTMETRICS. PLOS HAS CONTINUED TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHERS IN THE OPEN ACCESS COMMUNITY TO CAPTURE THE INTEREST AND SUPPORT OF RESEARCHERS, GOVERNMENTS AND FUNDERS. IN THE US, FOR EXAMPLE, WE HELPED TO PUBLICIZE A PETITION TO EXPAND PUBLIC ACCESS TO FEDERALLY-FUNDED SCIENCE RESEARCH. THE PETITION ULTIMATELY GATHERED 65,000 SIGNATURES AND RESULTED IN A WHITE HOUSE DIRECTIVE REQUIRING MAJOR US FEDERAL AGENCIES TO DRAW UP PLANS FOR PROVIDING BETTER ACCESS. IN THE UK, WE PROVIDED ORAL EVIDENCE TO THE GOVERNMENT'S BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS COMMITTEE IN RELATION TO RESEARCH COUNCILS UK'S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE "FINCH REPORT" RECOMMENDATIONS. BEING FREELY ABLE TO READ CONTENT IS ONLY THE BEGINNING. WE ARE ALSO FOCUSED ON THE BROADER RE-USE VALUE OF OPEN CONTENT. WE HAVE COLLABORATED WITH SPARC AND OASPA TO ENABLE DEEPER UNDERSTANDING AND COMPARISON OF PUBLISHERS' OPEN ACCESS POLICIES. TOGETHER, WE HAVE CREATED "HOWOPENISIT?", A GUIDE TO THE CORE ELEMENTS AND LANGUAGE OF OPEN ACCESS, FOR RESEARCHERS, AUTHORS AND POLICY-MAKERS. THIS THEME OF "INFORMED DECISIONS" IS ALSO REFLECTED IN OUR ONGOING ENDORSEMENT OF ARTICLE-LEVEL METRICS (ALMS).PLOS ALSO PROVIDED $3.8 MILLION IN THE FORM OF PARTIAL OR FULL WAIVERS TO AUTHORS AS PART OF OUR PUBLICATION FEE ASSISTANCE. AS A NONPROFIT PUBLISHER, ONE OF OUR CORE OBJECTIVES IS TO ELIMINATE UNNECESSARY BARRIERS TO IMMEDIATE AVAILABILITY, ACCESS AND USE OF RESEARCH, WHICH AT TIMES MAY INCLUDE COST. THOUGH THIS AMOUNT APPEARS AS A CONTRA-REVENUE FOR FINANCIAL REPORTING PURPOSES, THIS IS A MAJOR PROGRAM EXPENSE FOR PLOS WHICH DEMONSTRATES OUR SUPPORT TO OUR SCIENCE AND GLOBAL PUBLIC COMMUNITY. MUCH OUR HARDSHIP SUPPORT HAS BEEN FOR AUTHORS FROM EARLY STAGE OR EMERGING ECONOMIES, IN ADDITION TO SUPPORTING EARLY CAREER SCIENTISTS IN DEVELOPED ECONOMIES WHO HAVE BEEN UNSUCCESSFUL IN SECURING ADEQUATE FUNDING SUPPORT. 21888597 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 X 109 0 162 1 1 1 1 UK 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 X 10 10 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 0 CA X X SUSAN AU DIRECTOR OF FINANCE AND ACCOUNTING 4156241200 1160 BATTERY STREET NO 100 SAN FRANCISCO CA 94111 GARY WARD 5.00 X X 0 0 0 PATRICK O BROWN 5.00 X X 0 0 0 MICHAEL B EISEN 5.00 X 0 0 0 MICHAEL W CARROLL 5.00 X 0 0 0 ROBIN LOVELL-BADGE 5.00 X 0 0 0 HEATHER JOSEPH 5.00 X 0 0 0 DAVID LIDDLE 5.00 X 0 0 0 ROSALIND L SMYTH 5.00 X 0 0 0 MARTY TENENBAUM 5.00 X 0 0 0 BETH WEIL 5.00 X 0 0 0 PETER JERRAM 40.00 X 469716 0 9382 STEPHEN BOROSTYAN 40.00 X 277608 0 29444 KRISTEN RATAN 40.00 X 187343 0 27038 DARLENE YAPLEE 40.00 X 180051 0 26880 RICHARD CAVE 40.00 X 171312 0 25868 SUSAN AU 40.00 X 163144 0 13101 KATIE SHARABATI 40.00 X 151735 0 7378 VIRGINIA BARBOUR 40.00 X 150077 0 7017 TRACY PELON 40.00 X 141537 0 7924 1892523 0 154032 13 0 1 0 ARIES 200 SUTTON STREET NORTH ANDOVER MA 01845 JOURNAL MANAGEMENT SYSTEM 1466208 ZYG GROUP LLC 401 63RD STREET OAKLAND CA 94609 EDITORIAL SERVICES 1234951 KAUFMAN WILLS FUSTING & COMPANY 1010 STREEPER STREET SOUTH BALTIMORE MD 21224 EDITORIAL SERVICES 463459 DIGITAL PULP INC 220 EAST 23RD STREET SUITE 900 NEW YORK NY 10010 WEBSITE DESIGN 366548 J&J EDITORAL 320 NORTH SALEM STREET SUITE 205 APEX NC 27502 EDITORIAL SERVICES 329836 12 334098 3086 337184 AUTHOR FEES 519130 32610530 32610530 ADVERTISING 519130 518640 518640 SPONSORSHIPS 519130 231068 231068 REPRINTS 519130 72771 72771 33433009 393561 393561 8628036 8558694 69342 69342 69342 OTHER ANCILLARY REVENUE 623990 684 684 MERCHANDISING 451211 101 101 785 34233881 32914369 518640 463688 1207462 965970 241492 9430276 7135607 2294669 188021 143195 44826 1124198 688069 436129 807288 559945 247343 154230 62562 91668 62964 62964 1968193 1321083 647110 274271 274271 320087 40022 280065 519734 326826 192908 727005 510479 216526 770945 552971 217974 423490 271221 152269 PRODUCTION COSTS 8989989 8989989 TRAINING & RECRUITMENT 389464 46387 343077 GAIN / LOSS EXCH RATE 2555 2555 27360172 21888597 5471575 0 1555751 998005 331461 104772 200000 0 1464861 1122734 50149 51541 70860 500811 2412031 836976 1332625 1575055 6789817 16158274 11795524 20511192 1005877 1428591 1346409 2164359 722839 1052608 3075125 4645558 X 7576014 14853168 1144385 1012466 8720399 15865634 11795524 20511192 6873709 271526 0 X X 0 1 X 1 0 X 769998 792689 2364075 654948 337184 4918894 5930360 8408828 12372998 21185299 32914369 80811854 6700358 9201517 14737073 21840247 33251553 85730748 1400000 353393 1753393 0 1400000 353393 1753393 83977355 44131 7983 43413 190508 393561 679596 44131 7983 43413 190508 393561 679596 4028 17498 40730 188601 117567 368424 785 785 6748517 9226998 14821216 22219356 33763466 86779553 0.96770 0.99030 0.00780 0.00530 X RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED RESTRICTED 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1460 1460 0 EXPLANATION OF LOBBYING ACTIVITIES: PART II-B, LINE 1: PLOS HAS CONTINUED TO COLLABORATE WITH OTHERS IN THE OPEN ACCESS COMMUNITY TO CAPTURE THE INTEREST AND SUPPORT OF RESEARCHERS, GOVERNMENTS AND FUNDERS. IN THE US, FOR EXAMPLE, WE HELPED TO PUBLICIZE A PETITION TO EXPAND PUBLIC ACCESS TO FEDERALLY-FUNDED SCIENCE RESEARCH. THE PETITION ULTIMATELY GATHERED 65,000 SIGNATURES AND RESULTED IN A WHITE HOUSE DIRECTIVE REQUIRING MAJOR US FEDERAL AGENCIES TO DRAW UP PLANS FOR PROVIDING BETTER ACCESS. IN THE UK, WE PROVIDED ORAL EVIDENCE TO THE GOVERNMENT'S BUSINESS, INNOVATION AND SKILLS COMMITTEE IN RELATION TO RESEARCH COUNCILS UK'S IMPLEMENTATION OF THE "FINCH REPORT" RECOMMENDATIONS. 260487 55917 204570 869202 344977 524225 1282342 436082 846260 1575055 SECURITY DEPOSITS 8401 INVESTMENTS 16149873 16158274 ACCRUED PAYROLL LIABILITIES 1052608 1052608 X 34502852 271526 271526 34231326 2555 2555 34233881 27357617 0 27357617 2555 2555 27360172 DESCRIPTION OF UNCERTAIN TAX POSITIONS UNDER FIN 48: PART X, LINE 2: PLOS HAS RECEIVED NOTIFICATION FROM THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE AND THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA THAT IT QUALIFIES FOR TAX-EXEMPT STATUS UNDER SECTION 501(C)(3) OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE CODE AND SECTION 27301D OF THE CALIFORNIA REVENUE AND TAXATION CODE. THE EXEMPTIONS ARE SUBJECT TO PERIODIC REVIEW BY THE FEDERAL AND STATE TAXING AUTHORITIES AND MANAGEMENT IS CONFIDENT THAT PLOS CONTINUES TO SATISFY ALL FEDERAL AND STATE STATUTES IN ORDER TO QUALIFY FOR CONTINUED TAX EXEMPTION STATUS. PLOS MAY PERIODICALLY RECEIVE UNRELATED BUSINESS INCOME (SUCH AS SUBLEASE RENTAL INCOME, ADVERTISING INCOME, ETC.) REQUIRING PLOS TO FILE SEPERATE TAX RETURNS UNDER FEDERAL AND STATE STATUTES. PLOS ALSO HAS CERTAIN TRANSACTIONS REQUIRING THE PAYMENT OF VALUE ADDED TAXES. UNDER SUCH CONDITIONS, PLOS CALCULATES AND ACCRUES THE APPLICABLE TAXES. PLOS ASSESSES TAX POSITIONS TAKEN OR EXPECTED TO BE TAKEN AGAINST MORE-LIKELY-THAN-NOT RECOGNITION THRESHOLD AND MEASUREMENT ATTRIBUTES FOR FINANCIAL STATEMENT RECOGNITION. BASED ON AN ANALYSIS PREPARED BY PLOS, IT WAS DETERMINED THAT PLOS BELIEVES THAT IT HAS APPROPRIATE SUPPORT FOR ANY TAX POSITIONS TAKEN, AND AS SUCH, DOES NOT HAVE ANY UNCERTAIN TAX POSITIONS THAT ARE MATERIAL TO THE FINANCIAL STATEMENTS. PART XI, LINE 4B - OTHER ADJUSTMENTS: GAIN / LOSS ON EXCHANGE RATE 2,555. PART XII, LINE 4B - OTHER ADJUSTMENTS: GAIN / LOSS ON EXCHANGE RATE 2,555. EUROPE (INCLUDING ICELAND & GREENLAND) 1 36 PROGRAM SERVICES EDITORIAL SUPPORT TO SERVICE US OPERATIONS. 1997692 1 36 0 0 1 36 1997692 0 1997692 0 0 0 0 0 0 X X X X 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 PETER JERRAM 376484 0 93232 0 0 0 0 0 9382 0 479098 0 0 0 STEPHEN BOROSTYAN 240491 0 37117 0 0 0 10000 0 19444 0 307052 0 0 0 KRISTEN RATAN 181293 0 6050 0 0 0 7948 0 19090 0 214381 0 0 0 DARLENE YAPLEE 174644 0 5407 0 0 0 7683 0 19197 0 206931 0 0 0 RICHARD CAVE 159023 0 12289 0 0 0 6852 0 19016 0 197180 0 0 0 SUSAN AU 153321 0 9823 0 0 0 6589 0 6512 0 176245 0 0 0 KATIE SHARABATI 144035 0 7700 0 0 0 6099 0 1279 0 159113 0 0 0 VIRGINIA BARBOUR 140341 0 9736 0 0 0 7017 0 0 0 157094 0 0 0 NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES FORM 990, PART V, LINE 2A THE NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES REPORTED IN PART V AND PART I OF THE FORM 990 INCLUDES 126 W-2 EQUIVALENT EMPLOYEES IN THE US AS PART OF TRINET PEO AND 36 EMPLOYEES IN THE UK AT THE END OF 2012. FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION A, LINE 4 THE BYLAWS OF PLOS WERE UPDATED TO REFLECT THE CURRENT ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AT PLOS SINCE IT WAS NOT CHANGED SINCE THE INCEPTION OF THE ORGANIZATION. THE AMENDED BYLAWS WERE RATIFIED IN MAY 2013, WHICH WE ARE INCLUDING AS PART OF OUR 2012 TAX FILING DISCLOSURE, RATHER THAN IN OUR 2013 TAX FILING PERIOD. FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 11 FORM 990 IS PREPARED BY AN OUTSIDE TAX PROFESSIONAL WITH ASSISTANCE FROM THE ORGANIZATION. THE FORM IS THEN REVIEWED BY THE CFO AND MEMBERS FROM THE AUDIT COMMITTEE. AFTER REVIEW AND MODIFICATIONS WHERE NECESSARY, THE FINAL VERSION OF THE TAX RETURN IS PROVIDED TO THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS. THE CFO SIGNS AND FILES ALL REQUIRED TAX FILINGS. FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 12C A COMMITTEE OF THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS REVIEWS ALL POTENTIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST AT LEAST ANNUALLY. THE CEO AND ALL BOARD MEMBERS ARE REQUIRED TO DISCLOSE (IN WRITING) POTENTIAL CONFLICTS AND ANY RELATED PARTY AFFILIATIONS. LOANS BETWEEN THE ORGANIZATION AND MEMBERS OF MANAGEMENT AND THE BOARD ARE STRICTLY PROHIBITED. THE ORGANIZATION SEEKS FULL TRANSPARENCY ON ALL RELATIONSHIPS. ANY POTENTIAL CONFLICTS (IN FACT OR APPEARANCE) ARE DISCUSSED OPENLY AND RESOLVED IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE ORGANIZATION'S POLICIES AND PROCEDURES. FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION B, LINE 15 THE COMPENSATION COMMITTEE OF THE THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS REVIEWS THE COMPENSATION OF ALL HIGH-LEVEL PERSONNEL ANNUALLY IN ACCORDANCE WITH IRS RULES AND REGULATIONS. EFFORTS ARE MADE TO SECURE COMPENSATION DATA FROM INDUSTRY SOURCES IN ORDER TO DETERMINE COMPETITIVENESS AND APPROPRIATENESS OF SALARIES AND BENEFITS. EVERY EFFORT IS MADE TO ENSURE THAT THE PROCESS IS THOROUGH AND TRANSPARENT IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPROPRIATE GOVERNANCE AND REGULATORY COMPLIANCE. THIS IS PERFORMED ANNUALLY AND THE PROCESS IS MANAGED BY THE HR DIRECTOR. REVIEW ENCOMPASSES CEO, CFO, EXECUTIVES AND KEY EMPLOYEES. FORM 990, PART VI, SECTION C, LINE 19 PLOS MAKES ITS GOVERNING DOCUMENTS, CONFLICT OF INTEREST POLICY, AND FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AVAILABLE TO THE PUBLIC UPON REQUEST. THESE DOCUMENTS ARE ALSO POSTED ON OUR WEBSITE. FORM 990, PART XII, LINE 2C: THE PROCESS HAS NOT CHANGED FROM PRIOR YEAR.