Clark University
Overview
Mission
Clark University’s mission is to educate undergraduate and graduate students to be imaginative and contributing citizens of the world, and to advance the frontiers of knowledge and understanding through rigorous scholarship and creative effort. The University seeks to prepare students to meet the challenges of a complex and rapidly changing society.
What it reported doing in 2024
Instruction and academic support: clark's fall 2024 enrollment consisted of 2,266 undergraduates and 1,665 graduate students. Our motto - and mission - is "challenge convention; change our world", and our faculty members work to inspire their students to utilize their liberal arts based education to make a real difference in the communities in which they live and work. We also have strong graduate programs, which include masters' level degrees and eight phd programs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 85% 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 61% for direct work, and 39% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042111203
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Website reviewed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Headquarters
- Worcester, MA, United States
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Universities
The verdict
STRONG - 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: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 38
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 92.1%; rating input score 92
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.89 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 52nd 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: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
- 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: 96.8%; rating input score 97; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Public governance controls: 1 of 4 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -13.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 2.89; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.25; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.3%; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.3% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 92.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 30 of 31 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $245.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $934K · 55 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 45 of 46 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
- Money network: 30 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 13 filed related-organization links