| Form 990, Page 1, Line K |
Form of organization (Other) The Smithsonian Institution is a trust instrumentality of the U.S., created by Congress; organized pursuant to 20 U.S.C. sec. 41 et seq. |
| Form 990, Page 1, Line M |
State of legal domicile: As a trust instrumentality of the United States, the Smithsonian Institution is a federal entity that is not domiciled in any state. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 1 |
The Bylaws of the organization delegate authority to the Executive Committee to act on behalf of the Board of Regents when the Board of Regents is not in session. The Board of Regents shall elect from its members an Executive Committee consisting of three members. The Executive Committee shall have and may exercise all powers of the Board of Regents when the Board of Regents is not in session, except those expressly reserved to itself by the Board of Regents, provided that all such proceedings are reported to the Governance and Nominating Committee and the Board of Regents on a regular basis. The Chair of the Board serves as Chair of the Executive Committee. The Vice Chair of the Board serves as a member of the Executive Committee. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section A, line 7a |
Pursuant to federal statute, the Board of Regents consists of the Vice President of the United States, the Chief Justice of the United States, three members of the U.S. Senate, three members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and nine additional citizen Regents. The three Senators are appointed by the President Pro Tempore of the U.S. Senate, and the three members of the House of Representatives are appointed by the Speaker of the House of Representatives. Their appointment terms coincide with the terms for which they are elected, and they may be reappointed if re-elected. The citizen Regents are nominated by the Board of Regents, and appointed by a Joint Resolution of Congress which is signed by the President of the United States. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 11 |
The Form 990 return is prepared by staff in the Office of Finance & Accounting. It is then reviewed by the Director of Finance and Accounting, the Office of General Counsel, Chief Financial Officer and the Secretary of the Smithsonian, as well as by external tax advisors. After this review process, the 990 is made available to the full Board for its review and comment. The Audit & Review Committee conducts a final review of the return at a regularly scheduled Committee meeting prior to its filing. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 12c |
All officers, key employees, and certain other employees are required to complete and file annually a Confidential Financial Disclosure Report. These Reports - which require disclosure of certain assets, earned income, liabilities, outside positions, outside contracts and agreements, gifts, hospitality, reimbursements, and other interests related to the employee's Smithsonian position - are reviewed by the Institution's Office of General Counsel for compliance with applicable conflict of interest policies and laws. In addition to this required reporting, all key employees are required to comply with the Institution's Standards of Conduct, which, among other things, requires that employees not engage in private or personal activities that might conflict or appear to conflict with Smithsonian interests, requires that employees obtain Office of General Counsel approval before engaging in a related outside activity for compensation, and requires employees to consult with the Office of General Counsel whenever a doubt exists as to whether an activity or planned activity violates the Standards. All members of the Smithsonian's governing body are required to complete and file annually the Board of Regents Annual Disclosure Statement. These statements - which require reporting by members (and any reportable interests held by immediate family of members) on outside positions and substantial shareholding in for-profit business entities, outside positions in non-profit entities, and interests and affiliations of the member that have or sought to have a relationship to the Smithsonian - are reviewed by the Institution's General Counsel for compliance with applicable conflict of interest policies and laws. In addition to this required reporting, all members of the Smithsonian's governing body are required to comply with the Board of Regents Ethics Guidelines, which, among other things, define conflicts of interest and establish procedures for disclosing and reporting of conflicts and recusal from decision-making. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section B, line 15 |
The Smithsonian ensures that compensation paid to officers and other key employees is reasonable and comparable to similar organizations. Employees of the Smithsonian may be paid with federally appropriated funds or with nonfederal ("Trust") funds. Most Trust funded (nonfederal) officer and key employee positions are subject to market-based compensation, and the Board of Regent's Committee on Compensation and Human Resources engages an independent consultant to develop and assemble comparability data for its consideration and to inform it decisions. The Committee's annual deliberations and decisions are documented as part of the final recommendation materials submitted to the Board of Regents. Salaries for Federal employees are determined by statutorily established pay ranges for civil service employees. As a matter of policy, the Smithsonian has established similar ranges for certain Trust funded officer and key employee positions and maintains those ranges in proportion to the appropriate Federal pay ranges. |
| Form 990, Part VI, Section C, line 19 |
The Smithsonian makes its governing documents, statement of values and code of ethics, and audited financial statements available on its public website (www.si.edu). Documents may also be viewed at the Office of Finance and Accounting or mailed. |
| Form 990, Part VII and Schedule J-2 |
The current Secretary of the Smithsonian (David Skorton) began his service after December 31, 2014 and, accordingly, received no compensation for the reporting period. |
| Form 990, Part VII, Column (C) Position |
Per the instructions, only one position should be checked in column (C). During the year, certain individuals served in various officer and/or key employee positions during the year. Their positions during the year were as follows: Al Horvath 10/01/14-12/31/14 Under Secretary Finance & Admin/CFO (Officer) 01/01/15-06/30/15 Acting Secretary (Officer) 07/01/15-09/30/15 Under Secretary Finance & Admin/CFO (Officer) John Lapiana 10/01/14-12/31/14 Deputy U/Secretary Finance & Admin/CFO (Key Employee) 01/01/15-06/30/15 Acting U/Secretary Finance & Admin/CFO (Officer) 05/17/15-09/30/15 Acting Director Communications & External Affairs (Key Employee) |
| Form 990, Part XI, line 9: |
Change in related party net assets -1,499,838. Deferred gain on building 3,908,586. Change in minority interest-SI Network 2,315,500. Environmental remediation obligation FASB ASC 410-20 -6,621,899. Loss on uncollectible pledge -5,069,617. |
| Form 990, Part VII and Schedule J-2 |
The following are abbreviations found in the body of the return: FONZ - Friends of the National Zoo NASM - National Air and Space Museum NMNH - National Museum of Natural History OPMB - Office of Planning, Management and Budget SE - Smithsonian Enterprises SI - Smithsonian Institution |
Attach to Form 990 or 990-EZ.