Transparency Policy

Portland Downtown adheres to transparency requirements applied to Maine 501(c)(4) organizations.

Annual meetings of Property Owners (as defined in the Bylaws) are open to Property Owners and other invitees of Portland Downtown.

Meetings of certain committees of the Board of Directors of Portland Downtown are open to the public, namely, the Clean & Safe, Multimodal Transportation, Marketing & Events, and Merchant Committees. Ad hoc committees may be open to the public based on their purpose. Minutes for these meetings are available to the public via opting in to committee email distribution lists.

Other meetings of Portland Downtown Board and committees are closed to the public as they are internal-facing and administrative in nature. Minutes for these meetings are for the reference and use of Portland Downtown Board and staff only.

Forums, panel discussions, etc. hosted by Portland Downtown are generally open to the public by nature.

Certain financial records are required to be made available to the public by Maine 501(c)(4) organizations. Currently (11/2019), those include:

  • Portland Downtown’s annual Form 990 (latest 3 years) is available in the About Us section of the Portland Downtown website.
  • Portland Downtown’s original Form 1024 application for exemption is available in the About Us section of the Portland Downtown website.
  • Portland Downtown’s IRS determination letter is available in the About Us section of the Portland Downtown website.

In addition, certain additional financial records that are not required to be made available to the public as a 501(c)(4) organization are available by virtue of other requirements. Currently (11/2019), those include:

  • Portland Downtown’s annual budget is available from the City of Portland as part of its overall budget process documentation. A link to the document is available in the About Us section of the Portland Downtown website.
  • Portland Downtown’s financials reviewed by an independent CPA will be made available to Property Owners and businesses in the district on request to the Board of Directors via the Executive Director.

Names of Board of Directors and staff are available in the About Us section of the Portland Downtown website.

Annual Reports are available in the About Us section of the Portland Downtown website.

This policy is to be reviewed (no less frequently than every 3 years) by the Portland Downtown Governance Committee.