Rivier University

Overview

Mission

Our Mission

What it reported doing in 2024

Instructional, academic support, and student services expenses related to providing instructional services for 2,193 undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral students. Instructional programs range from liberal arts to professional studies. Programs such as nursing and education lead to licensure.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 66% for direct work, and 34% for grants.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
020223339
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Website reviewed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Headquarters
Nashua, NH, US
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Universities
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

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The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The website gives limited detail about important organizational relationships and the filing reports few safeguards for setting executive pay.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 59
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 86.5%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: $34.65 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited
  • Public monitoring controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Public policy transparency: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Public financial transparency: 0 of 5 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Impact reporting controls: 0 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Public relationship transparency: No; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
  • Public governance controls: 0 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 0
  • Zakat policy transparency: Limited

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 5.4%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Operating reserve ratio: 2.81; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.41; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.5%; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.7% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 81% of revenue deployed · 86.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $61.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $220K · 38 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 37 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
  • Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link