Brandeis University
Overview
Mission
Brandeis Plan to reinvent the Liberal Arts integrates rigorous study and a vibrant research enterprise with career-shaping experiences and verifiable skills—preparing students for meaningful careers and lives of impact.
What it reported doing in 2024
Instructional and academic support: brandeis university is a rare combination of a liberal arts college and a global research university. Our student body numbers 4,900, including undergraduates and graduate students. We have a graduate school of arts and sciences and two professional schools, the heller school for social policy and management and the international business school. The rabb school of continuing studies offers graduate professional programs for part-time students. Many academic programs are enriched by myriad interactions with the numerous other leading universities in the area. We work to connect theory and practice through field work and experiential learning.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 75% 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 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042103552
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Website reviewed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Headquarters
- Waltham, 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: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 87
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 97.2%; rating input score 97
- Program expense ratio: 87%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.57 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 37; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90%; rating input score 90; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 53rd 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: 95.6%; rating input score 96; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Public governance controls: 0 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -10.5%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 3.59; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.23; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.4% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 97.2% of revenue deployed · 87% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 43 of 45 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $477.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.4M · 66 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 46 of 48 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 14 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
- Money network: 68 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 47 filed related-organization links