Acadia University
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 986001152
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada
- Phone
- 902-304-0736
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Higher Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $94,220,000
- Expenses
- $98,547,000
- Assets
- $247,017,000
- Liabilities
- $132,970,000
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
43 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jeffrey Hennessy (President & Vice Chancellor)
Highest reported compensation
- Jeffrey Hennessy (President & Vice Chancellor): $298,869 total reported compensation
- Ashlee Cunsolo (Provost & VP Academic): $203,594 total reported compensation
- Jeffrey Hooper (Dean of Pure & Applied Science): $178,135 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Acadia University is a public liberal arts and sciences university located in Wolfville, Nova Scotia, Canada. It offers a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs across faculties including Arts, Pure and Applied Science, Professional Studies, and Theology. The university serves a diverse student body from Canada and over 60 countries, emphasizing experiential learning, research, and community engagement. Distinctive programs include the Acadia Advantage integrated laptop learning initiative and strong co-op and internship opportunities.
What it reported doing in 2025
Academic Teaching, Scholarships & Bursaries and Library
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 90% 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 68
- Transparency & Controls: 66
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 33
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 64.6%; rating input score 65
- Fundraising efficiency: $52.79 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- May suspend future funding: Fail
- Requires financial reports: Fail
- Conducts site visits: Fail
- Requires grant agreements: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.6%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.51; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.54; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.8%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 70% of revenue deployed · 64.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 34 of 34 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $66.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $299K · 43 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $17.9M reported
- Consistency: 32 of 34 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes foreign activity and executive pay
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2021 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 10 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 59/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 38/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D land buildings reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D revenue reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.