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Conflicts of Interest

Open in Nocthink

Module: Governance & Risk · URL: /governance/coi · Responsible role: Executive Director / Deputy Director acting as board secretary (collects disclosures); governance approver (reviews them) · Also used by: users with a governance role (record disclosures, see "(restricted)" instead of conflict details); not visible to ordinary staff

Conflicts of Interest — 2026 disclosures for nine board members: a red "2 members have not disclosed for 2026" pill, two red Missing rows (Daniel Okafor, Harold Whitfield) with Record actions, conflict details with Show more links, review status, and Review on Catherine Lim's unreviewed disclosure

Screenshot: Brian Sanders (Deputy Director), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data. His own disclosure shows "Needs another reviewer" instead of Review.

Why I use this page

Every board member signs a conflict-of-interest disclosure once a year; the Form 990 governance questions and our COI policy depend on us collecting and reviewing them. I use this page at the start of each year to chase signatures, enter each signed form as it comes back, and make sure a governance approver has read every disclosure that reports a conflict. Before a vote on a contract or funding decision, I check here who should recuse.

What's on the screen

  • Header: Conflicts of interest with the orange + (Record disclosure).
  • Year picker (next year back to five years ago) and a status pill: red "N members have not disclosed for <year>" or green "Every member has disclosed for <year>".
  • A notice for non-approvers: conflict details are shown only to governance approvers; others see "(restricted)".
  • Table, one row per board member (missing rows are tinted red). Columns:
    • Member
    • Disclosure — Received or red Missing; under a received disclosure, "Conflicts declared" or "No conflicts" and the signed date
    • Details — the conflict description (the widest column; cut off after three lines, with Show more / Show less whenever text is actually hidden), None, or "(restricted)"
    • Review — green Reviewed or Not reviewed
    • Actions — Review (unreviewed disclosures, approvers only) or Record (missing disclosures). On my own unreviewed disclosure, an approver sees "Needs another reviewer" instead of Review.

How I …

Record a signed disclosure

  1. Select the Year at the top.
  2. Click Record on the member's row (member pre-selected), or + to pick the member yourself.
  3. In Record disclosure (see Record disclosure below), check the Member and Year (2000–2100).
  4. If the form lists any conflict, tick The member reported one or more conflicts and describe each one in Details (required in that case).
  5. Enter Signed on (the date on the signed form).
  6. Click Record disclosure. The row changes to Received / Not reviewed.

Review a disclosure

  1. As a governance approver, read the Details on a Not reviewed row.
  2. If a conflict affects an upcoming decision, note who must recuse on the related resolution.
  3. Click Review. The row shows Reviewed, and the reviewer and time are stored.

Chase missing disclosures

  1. Pick the year and look at the red pill and the Missing rows.
  2. Send the form to those members (outside the app), then record each one as it comes back.

Check prior years

  1. Change Year to see an earlier cycle, including who disclosed and which conflicts were reviewed.

Detail page, forms & dialogs

Record disclosure

Record disclosure — the Record disclosure dialog with Member, Year, the conflicts tick box, Details and Signed on

Screenshot: Brian Sanders (Deputy Director), Nocthink Demo Institute demo data.

+ (or Record on a member's row, which pre-selects the member) opens Record disclosure: "Enter the annual disclosure as the member signed it. Each member discloses once per year."

  • Member lists the board members; those who already disclosed for the chosen year are marked "(already disclosed)".
  • Year defaults to the year selected on the page.
  • The member reported one or more conflicts: when ticked, Details becomes required; otherwise it is optional. "Only governance approvers can read these details."
  • Signed on is the date on the signed form (defaults to today).

Record disclosure saves it and the member's row shows the disclosure as received and not yet reviewed. A second person then marks it reviewed from the list.

Access & permissions

  • Governance is a restricted-view domain: the owner, directors and users with governance.view can open the page.
  • Recording a disclosure needs governance.create; Review needs governance.approve.
  • Conflict Details are returned by the server only to governance approvers; everyone else sees "(restricted)" for members with conflicts.

Caveats

  • One disclosure per member per year: a second one for the same year is rejected with "This member already disclosed for that year."
  • Details are mandatory when has conflicts is ticked ("Describe each conflict.").
  • Recording and reviewing are permanent: there is no edit, delete or un-review. Check the form before saving.
  • I cannot review my own disclosure. A board member counts as me when the member record is linked to my user account or has my email address; the server refuses with "You cannot review your own disclosure; another governance approver must review it." Keep board member emails up to date so this check works.
  • The member list comes from Board & Committees and includes members who are not currently serving.
  • The year defaults to the current calendar year in your browser, not the fiscal year.

Limitations

  • Board members cannot sign or submit disclosures themselves; the secretary keys them in. No upload of the signed form.
  • No reminders or e-mails to members with missing disclosures.
  • Recusals are not created automatically from a disclosure; they are recorded vote by vote on Resolutions.
  • No export of the disclosure register.