Bismarck State College Foundation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
450358929
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025, Form 990-T 2022
Location
Bismarck, ND, USA
Phone
7012245700
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$11,739,111
Expenses
$14,635,423
Assets
$76,284,740
Liabilities
$11,421,561

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

88 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Russ Hanson (President)
  • Sarah Getzlaff (Vice President)
  • Kari Knudson NV (Executive Director)

Highest reported compensation

  • Kari Knudson NV (Executive Director): $220,624 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Engage in those activities which support and assist in the development and advancement of Bismarck State College.

What it reported doing in 2025

Student Recognition: Outstanding Student Awards are given to the students selected by faculty in each of BSC's programs and departments. These outstanding students receive a certificate and $50 cash award from BSC Foundation.Phi Theta Kappa is an international two-year college honor society. Students nominated for membership have maintained an accumulative grade point average of 3.5 or better and have completed 15 semester hours in residence at BSC applicable to an associate degree. The Phi Theta Kappa receives a paid initiation fee for membership, a pin, and a certificate(Continued on Schedule O)from the BSC Foundation. They are honored at the BSC Recognition Ceremony with a certificate from the BSC Foundation.Employee RecognitionYears of Service: To acknowledge the contributions BSC faculty and staff make to the excellence of education, the Foundation sponsors a recognition program for employees. Employees are awarded gift cards and certificates beginning with five years of service and are honored with each five-year increment.BSC Faculty and Staff Awards for Excellence: this Foundation-sponsored program ensures that everyone has an equal opportunity to be recognized, through this prestigious award, for their outstanding contributions to Bismarck State College. To publicly recognize the Award for Excellence recipients, they are announced at BSC's award ceremony in the spring. Two faculty award recipients will each receive $1,000, two staff award recipients will each receive $1,000, an adjunct faculty receives $250, and a part-time staff member receives a $250 award.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 94% of its reported program spending out as 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 93
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 94.3%; rating input score 94
  • Fundraising efficiency: $19.89 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.1%; rating input score 96; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -24.7%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.21; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.5%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 15.7% per year; rating input score 100; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 10.3% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 94.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 74 of 77 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $13.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $221K · 88 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 6 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.

Key Signals

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

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 54/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.