Yale University

Overview

Mission

Yale’s core mission is to create, disseminate, and preserve knowledge through research and teaching. Yale pursues this mission through the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Yale College, and its graduate and professional schools, each with its own distinct contributions. []( Yale College The mission of Yale College is to seek exceptionally promising students of all backgrounds from across the nation and around the world and to educate them, through mental discipline and social experience, to develop their intellectual, moral, civic, and creative capacities to the fullest. The aim of this education is the cultivation of citizens with a rich awareness of our heritage to lead and serve in every sphere of human activity.

What it reported doing in 2024

Research: The University engages in extensive research in medicine, science, engineering, the arts, social sciences, and humanities. The University's research activities are aimed at the advancement of knowledge as well as training students in the research process. As integral parts of a unified, innovative, and accessible student-centered research University, Yale's labs and classrooms are turning out groundbreaking medical and scientific discoveries and the next generation of innovators in many areas of research excellence. The University's outstanding facilities devoted to research are comprised of myriad laboratories, centers, libraries, collections, and institutes that focus on research in geology, chemistry, biology, engineering and applied science, anthropology, paleontology, psychology, molecular and structural biology, nuclear structure, child development, social policy, biospheric studies and numerous biomedical sciences, to name but a few.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 85% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
060646973
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Headquarters
New Haven, CT, USA
Phone
2034325530
Rating
90
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
University or Technological Institute

Official website

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 90
  • Transparency & Controls: 86
  • Accountability: 96
  • Sustainability: 86
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 87.2%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $15.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Pass
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 21.1%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.83; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.18; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0.6%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 87.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 17 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $5.8B in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $5.4M · 39 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $266.2M reported
  • Consistency: 49 of 49 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 annual filings from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 388 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 581 filed related-organization links
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Leadership & pay

39 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Matthew S T Mendelsohn (Chief Investment Officer): $5,384,798 total reported compensation
  • Amelia Chivetta (Managing Director, Investments): $4,584,829 total reported compensation
  • Timothy R Sullivan (Sr Director of Private Equity): $4,175,425 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.