Suffolk University
Overview
Mission
See schedule o.
What it reported doing in 2024
The college of arts and sciences prepares students of all ages and backgrounds to live more fulfilling lives, to appreciate and contribute to the communities of which they are members and to reach their ethical, personal, intellectual and financial goals. To help its students maximize their potential, the college emphasizes critical and analytical thinking through a rigorous "success skills" undergraduate core program in written and oral communication, computing, analyzing, and integrating. Faculty scholarship supports diversified liberal arts concentrations available in the humanities, the natural sciences and the social sciences, along with graduate programs in several fields, most offering career-related professional program tracks and practical experience on or off campus. See schedule o for additional information.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 92% 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 60% for direct work, and 40% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 042133255
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Headquarters
- Boston, MA, USA
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- 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: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 86
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.1%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.8 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: 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: 96.2%; rating input score 96; 48th 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: -7.8%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Operating reserve ratio: 2.31; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.68; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 91.1% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 25 of 26 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $328.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $964K · 49 people listed · 6 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: 16 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
- Money network: 24 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 filed related-organization links