Emerson College
Overview
Mission
See schedule o.emerson college's mission is to educate and elevate extraordinary artists, communicators, scholars, and professionals for the betterment of humanity. We pursue this mission through world-class teaching, practice, performance, and discovery that are experiential, innovative, and inclusive.
What it reported doing in 2024
Emerson college's mission is to educate and elevate extraordinary artists, communicators, scholars, and professionals for the betterment of humanity. We pursue this mission through world-class teaching, practice, performance, and discovery that are experiential, innovative, and inclusive. The college educates approximately 3,500 undergraduate and 1,300 graduate students annually - this year from 50 u.s. States, Washington, d.c., puerto rico, the us virgin islands, and 69 countries. The college has more than 600 full and part-time faculty.
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 74% for direct work, and 26% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 041286950
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2021
- Headquarters
- Boston, MA, USA
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Universities
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 96
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 83.4%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 84.4%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- 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: Limited
- Public policy transparency: Limited
- Public financial transparency: Limited
- Impact reporting controls: Limited
- Public relationship transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Public governance controls: Limited
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2.5%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 3.33; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.48; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.3%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 83.4% of revenue deployed · 84.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 26 of 28 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $294.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.1M · 41 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
- Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
- Money network: 12 filed money-flow records