Governance & Finance

The Go Green Initiative Association does not and shall not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, height, weight, or military status, in any of its activities or operations. These activities include, but are not limited to, hiring and firing of staff, selection of volunteers and vendors, and provision of services. We are committed to providing an inclusive and
welcoming environment for all members of our staff, clients, volunteers, subcontractors, vendors, and clients.

Discriminatory Harassment

Harassment or intimidation of a client, staff person or guest because of that person’s race, color, religion (creed), gender, gender identity, gender expression, age, national origin (ancestry), physical or mental disability, marital status, sexual orientation, height, weight, or military status is specifically prohibited and may be grounds for termination. Harassment and intimidation includes abusive, foul or threatening language or behavior. The Go Green Initiative Association is committed to maintaining a workplace that is free of any such harassment and will not tolerate discrimination against staff members, volunteers or agency clients. Issues of discriminatory treatment, harassment, or intimidation on any of these bases should immediately be reported to the Executive Director or immediate supervisor and, if substantiated, prompt action will be taken.

Please find our conflict of interest statement available here to be printed and signed as necessary.

We require our directors, employees and volunteers to practice the highest levels of business and personal ethics when conducting their duties and responsibilities. This means that employees and other representatives of our organization must practice honesty and integrity in their job duties and comply with all applicable laws and regulations. The objectives of this Whistleblower Policy are to establish policies and procedures for:

• The submission of concerns regarding questionable accounting or auditing matters by employees,
  directors, officers or any other interested party, on a confidential and anonymous basis.
• The receipt, retention, and treatment of complaints received by our organization regarding
  accounting, internal controls, or auditing matters.
• The protection of reporters from retaliatory actions.

How to Report
An employee or other representative of our organization may choose to report a concern to a supervisor, a manager, the Executive Director, a board member or the Board President, as appropriate.

Handling of the Reported Concern
After a report is made it should be immediately conveyed to the Board President. The Board President shall immediately notify the Board and the Executive Director of any such report, but is not required to notify a specific board member or the Executive Director if the concern(s) directly involve(s) any of these individuals. The Board President will notify the sender and acknowledge receipt of the concern within ten business days, if possible. It will not be possible to acknowledge receipt of anonymously submitted concerns.

All reports will be promptly investigated by a Special Task Force appointed by the Board President, and appropriate corrective action will be taken, if warranted by the investigation. In addition, action taken must include a conclusion and/or follow-up with the complainant for complete closure of the concern.

The investigation, corrective action, and conclusion shall be documented in a written summary and preserved indefinitely. The Board of Directors has the authority to retain outside legal counsel, accountants, private investigators, or any other resource deemed necessary to conduct a full and complete investigation of the allegations.

Confidentiality
Reports of concerns and investigations pertaining thereto shall be kept confidential to the extent possible. However, the reporter’s identity may have to be disclosed to conduct a thorough investigation, to comply with the law and to assure accused individuals their legal rights to defend.

No Retaliation
This Whistleblower Policy is intended to encourage and enable directors, employees and volunteers to raise concerns within our organization for investigation and appropriate action. With this goal in mind, no director, employee or volunteer who, in good faith, reports a concern shall be subject to retaliation or adverse employment action. Any person who so retaliates will be subject to disciplinary action, including termination.

Likewise, an individual who reports a concern who is not acting in good faith, does not have reasonable grounds for believing the information disclosed indicates an improper accounting or auditing practice, or who makes unsubstantiated allegations that prove to have been made maliciously, recklessly, or with the foreknowledge that the allegations are false, may be subject to disciplinary action, including termination.

Purpose
In accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1519 and the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which makes it a crime to alter, cover up, falsify, or destroy any document with the intent of impeding or obstructing any official proceeding, this policy provides for the systematic review, retention and destruction of documents received or created by the Go Green Initiative in connection with the transaction of organization business. This policy covers all records and documents, regardless of physical form, contains guidelines for how long certain documents should be kept and how records should be destroyed. The policy is designed to ensure compliance with federal and state laws and regulations, to eliminate accidental or innocent destruction of records and to facilitate the Go Green Initiative’s operations by promoting efficiency and freeing up valuable storage space.

Document Retention
The Go Green Initiative follows the document retention procedures outlined below. Documents that are not listed, but are substantially similar to those listed in the schedule will be retained for the appropriate length of time.

Electronic Documents and Records
Electronic documents will be retained as if they were paper documents. Therefore, any electronic files, including records of donations made online, that fall into one of the document types on the above schedule will be maintained for the appropriate amount of time. If a user has sufficient reason to keep an email message, the message should be printed in hard copy and kept in the appropriate file or moved to an “archive” computer file folder. Backup and recovery methods will be tested on a regular basis.

Emergency Planning
The Go Green Initiative’s records will be stored in a safe, secure and accessible manner. Documents and financial files that are essential to keeping the Go Green Initiative operating in an emergency will be duplicated or backed up at least every week and maintained off site.

Document Destruction
The Go Green Initiative’s chief executive officer is responsible for the ongoing process of identifying its records, which have met the required retention period and overseeing their destruction. Destruction of financial and personnel-related documents will be accomplished by shredding. Document destruction will be suspended immediately, upon any indication of an official investigation or when a lawsuit is filed or appears imminent. Destruction will be reinstated upon conclusion of the investigation.

Compliance
Failure on the part of employees to follow this policy can result in possible civil and criminal sanctions against the Go Green Initiative and its employees and possible disciplinary action against responsible individuals. The chief executive officer and finance committee chair will periodically review these procedures with legal counsel or the organization’s certified public accountant to ensure that they are in compliance with new or revised regulations.

The Chief Executive Officer of the Go Green Initiative is the principal representative of the Go Green Initiative, and the person responsible for the efficient operation of the organization. Therefore, it is the desire of the Go Green Initiative to provide a fair, yet reasonable and not excessive, compensation for the Chief Executive Officer (and any other highly compensated employees and consultants).The annual process for determining compensation is as follows:

Board Approval. The Compensation Committee of the Board of Directors will obtain research and information to make a recommendation to the full board for the compensation (salary and benefits) of the Chief Executive Officer (and other highly compensated employees or consultants) based on a review of comparability data. This data may include the following:

1. Salary and benefit compensation studies by independent sources, e.g. Charity Navigator CEO Compensation Study;
2. Written job offers for positions at similar organizations;
3. Documented telephone calls about similar positions at both nonprofit and for profit organizations; and
4. Information obtained from the IRS Form 990 filings of similar organizations.

Concurrent Documentation. To approve the compensation for the Chief Executive Officer (and other highly compensated employees and consultants) the board must document how it reached its decisions, including the data on which it relied, in minutes of the meeting during
which the compensation was approved. Documentation will include:

1. A description of the compensation and benefits and the date it was approved;
2. The members of the board who were present during the discussion about compensation and benefits, and the results of the vote;
3. A description of the comparability data relied upon and how the data was obtained; and
4. Any actions taken (such as abstaining from discussion and vote) with respect to consideration of the compensation by anyone who is otherwise a member of the board but who had a conflict of interest with respect to the decision on the compensation and benefits.

Independence in Setting Compensation: The board of directors, who are volunteers and not compensated by the Go Green Initiative, will operate independently without undue influence from the Chief Executive Officer. No member of the Compensation Committee will be a staff
member, the relative of a staff member, or have any relationship with staff that could present a conflict of interest.

The Go Green Initiative Association (the “GGI”) is committed to respecting the privacy of its donors and to ensuring that actual and prospective donors have confidence in the GGI and that the GGI is using donations solely to fulfill its mission. To reflect this commitment the GGI has adopted a privacy policy and a donor bill of rights, both of which are set forth below. Questions about these policies should be directed to the GGI’s CEO at info@gogreeninitiative.org.

DONOR PRIVACY

Background: The GGI collects and maintains the following types of donor information when it is
voluntarily provided to us:

• Contact information such as name, address, telephone number and e-mail address
• Payment and billing information (excluding credit card numbers which are used only for donation or payment processing and are not otherwise used or retained)
• Information provided by the donor in the form of comments and suggestions

The GGI uses this information to complete a transaction and communicate with donors, and keeps the information on file for financial and tax purposes in accordance with the GGI’s document retention policy. The GGI also uses this information to make more accurate budget projections, as well as to understand donors’ interests in our mission and to update donors on the GGI’s plans and activities. This information is shared with staff and board members only on a confidential and need-to-know basis.

List Sharing: Mailings for Other Organizations: The GGI does not sell, rent, trade or share its donor list with any other organization. The GGI does not send out mailings to its donors on behalf of other organizations.

Communications with Donors: The GGI endeavors to communicate with donors according to their expressed preferences. The GGI will discontinue or change the method used to contact any donor upon that person’s oral or written request directed to the GGI (including any professional fundraiser or other agent acting on the GGI’s behalf) that they do not wish to be contacted by or on behalf of the GGI.

Upon a donor’s (or a donor’s authorized representative’s) request that the GGI discontinue further contacts, the donor’s name and address will be promptly modified in the GGI’s donor database to ensure that no further contact is made with the person. The GGI will also take steps to ensure that no further contact is made with the donor and that the donor’s name is removed from any external databases or records under the control of the GGI.

This portion of the privacy policy does not apply to individuals or groups voluntarily soliciting on behalf of the GGI, even if the donor being contacted has requested to be placed on the GGI’s “do not contact list”.

Permanent Record: The GGI will maintain an electronic record of all requests for discontinuance of contacts, effective with the adoption of this policy by the GGI’s Board of Directors. Oral requests will be noted in writing by staff of the GGI and then permanently recorded in the electronic donor database. The records of persons who have made such a request will be maintained by the GGI in accordance with the GGI’s document retention policy.

DONOR BILL OF RIGHTS

The GGI subscribes to the following “Donor Bill of Rights”, which was created by the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

1. To be informed of the organization's mission, of the way the organization intends to use donated resources, and of its capacity to use donations effectively for their intended purposes.
2. To be informed of the identity of those serving on the organization's governing board, and to expect the board to exercise prudent judgment in its stewardship responsibilities.
3. To have access to the organization's most recent financial statements.
4. To be assured their gifts will be used for the purposes for which they were given.
5. To receive appropriate acknowledgement and recognition.
6. To be assured that information about their donation is handled with respect and with confidentiality to the extent provided by law.
7. To expect that all relationships with individuals representing organizations of interest to the donor will be professional in nature.
8. To be informed whether those seeking donations are volunteers, employees of the organization or hired solicitors.
9. To have the opportunity for their names to be deleted from mailing lists that an organization may intend to share.
10. To feel free to ask questions when making a donation and to receive prompt, truthful and forthright answers.

The Go Green Initiative Association (Go Green Initiative) is committed to providing a website that is accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. We strive to follow federal standards for technology accessibility for people with disabilities (Section 508) and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2.0 developed by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C).

Viewing PDF or Word/DOC Files

Improve viewing of Portable Document Format (PDF) or Word or DOC files available on Go Green Initiative's website by downloading the latest version of Adobe Reader (for PDF format) or Microsoft Office (for Word or DOC format).

Contact Us

Some areas of the Go Green Initiative websites may require personal login information or acceptance of additional special terms and conditions. Contact the Go Green Initiative if you have difficulty accessing our web content, have difficulty viewing a file on the website, or notice any accessibility problems. The Go Green Initiative will strive to provide the content you need in the format you require.

Go Green Initiative will continue to monitor and test our website to provide our users with a website that strives to stay in compliance with the latest accessibility standards.

Posted September 2021

This privacy notice discloses the privacy practices for www.gogreeninitiative.org. This privacy notice applies solely to information collected by this website.

It will notify you of the following:

1. What personally identifiable information is collected from you through the website, how it is used and with whom it may be shared.
2. What choices are available to you regarding the use of your data.
3. The security procedures in place to protect the misuse of your information.
4. How you can correct any inaccuracies in the information.

Information Collection, Use, and Sharing

We are the sole owners of the information collected on this site. We only have access to/collect information that you voluntarily give us via email or other direct contact from you. We will not sell or rent this information to anyone. We will use your information to respond to you, regarding the reason you contacted us. We will not share your information with any third party outside of our organization, other than as necessary to fulfill your request, e.g. to ship an order. Unless you ask us not to, we may contact you via email in the future to tell you about specials, new programs or services, or changes to this privacy policy.

Your Access to and Control Over Information 

You may opt out of any future contacts from us at any time. You can do the following at any time by contacting us via the email address or phone number given on our website:

• See what data we have about you, if any.
• Change/correct any data we have about you.
• Have us delete any data we have about you.
• Express any concern you have about our use of your data.

Security 

• We take precautions to protect your information. When you submit sensitive information via the website, your information is protected both online and offline.
• Wherever we collect sensitive information (such as credit card data), that information is encrypted and transmitted to us in a secure way. You can verify this by looking for a lock icon in the address bar and looking for “https” at the beginning of the address of the Web page.
• While we use encryption to protect sensitive information transmitted online, we also protect your information offline. Only employees who need the information to perform a specific job (for example, billing or customer service) are granted access to personally identifiable information. The computers/servers in which we store personally identifiable information are kept in a secure environment.
• If you feel that we are not abiding by this privacy policy, you should contact us immediately via telephone at 925-289-0145 or info@gogreeninitiative.org.

Anyone may use this website for information gathering and sharing. In order to register your school in our network to become eligible for occasional grants and other promotions, a user must first complete the registration form. During registration a user is required to give certain information (such as name and email address). This information is used to contact you about the programs/services on our site in which you have expressed interest.

On occasion, we offer items for sale on our website. We request information from you on our order form. To buy from us, you must provide contact information (like name and shipping address) and financial information (like credit card number, expiration date). This information is used for billing purposes and to fill your orders. If we have trouble processing an order, we’ll use this information to contact you. We use PayPal for all financial transactions, including charitable donations.This website contains links to other sites. Please be aware that we are not responsible for the content or privacy practices of such other sites.

We encourage our users to be aware when they leave our site and to read the privacy statements of any other site that collects personally identifiable information. From time-to-time our site requests information via surveys or contests. Participation in these surveys or contests is completely voluntary and you may choose whether or not to participate and therefore disclose this information. Information requested may include contact information (such as name and shipping address), and demographic information (such as zip code, age level). Contact information will be used to notify the winners and award prizes. Survey information will be used for purposes of monitoring or improving the use and satisfaction of this site.