Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Overview
Mission
Wpi transforms lives, turns knowledge into action to confront global challenges, and revolutionizes stem through distinctive and inclusive education, projects and research. (http://www.wpi.edu/about/mission.html)
What it reported doing in 2024
At the university, 244 faculty and post doc researchers, and 632 students are engaged in cutting-edge research across a broad range of disciplines. The university receives research funding from a variety of sources, primarily from governmental organizations such as the national science foundation, department of defense, national institute of health and other federal agencies. Research at the university has a decidedly applied focus, with work focused on problems that are both interesting and important. The result is new knowledge, new innovations, and technological advances that attack some of the major challenges of our time.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 91% 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 62% for direct work, and 38% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042121659
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Headquarters
- Worcester, MA, USA
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
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: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.6%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 83%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $2.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
- 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: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- Public governance controls: Limited
- Zakat policy transparency: Limited
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -1.9%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 2.66; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.2%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82.6% of revenue deployed · 83% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 26 of 28 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $447.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.1M · 41 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 45 of 45 current checks pass
- Schedules: 14 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
- Money network: 73 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 64 filed related-organization links