Adelphi University

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
111630741
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Garden City, NY, USA
Phone
5168773184
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
University or Technological Institute

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$368,720,585
Expenses
$366,373,397
Assets
$572,242,880
Liabilities
$172,687,905

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

40 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR CHRISTINE RIORDAN (PRESIDENT)
  • MICHAEL RHATTIGAN (VICE PRESIDENT OF FINANCE)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR CHRISTINE RIORDAN (PRESIDENT): $1,381,449 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTOPHER STORM (PROVOST/EXECUTIVE VP/INTERIM PRES): $508,389 total reported compensation
  • THOMAS KLINE (VP-ADVANCEMENT & EXTERNAL RELATIONS): $475,769 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

See schedule o

What it reported doing in 2024

Instruction and related academic support, student services and public support benefiting the community - the university provides a personalized education for all its undergraduate and graduate students. The average annualized enrollments for fiscal 2024-2025 was 6,680 fulltime students, comprised of 5,027 undergraduate and 1,653 graduate/ post baccalaureate full-time equivalent students. Students come from diverse backgrounds and are not only from the New York area, but from across the country and around the world. Adelphi's colleges and schools include the college of arts and sciences, the gordon f derner school of psychology, the honors college, and the college of education and health sciences, the robert b willumstad school of business, the college of nursing and public health, the school of social work, and the college of professional and continuing studies. Students have accessibility to student counseling, career counseling, financial aid, and mentoring and other services and programs offered by the university. Adelphi has extensive community health and human services outreach programs, including the hy weinberg center for communication disorders, the center for psychological services, and the adelphi New York statewide breast cancer hotline and support program, among other community service programs. These programs are offered to students, faculty and staff as well as to members of the surrounding community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 94% 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 59% for direct work, and 41% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.1%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 89.5%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.19 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 92%; rating input score 92; 41st 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: 0.6%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.56; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.1% of revenue deployed · 89.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 23 of 25 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $327.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.4M · 40 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.3M reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 16 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.