Carthage College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
370661496
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Kenosha, WI, US
Phone
(262) 551-8500
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
University or Technological Institute
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$158,664,832
Expenses
$148,858,880
Assets
$472,819,604
Liabilities
$135,634,224

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

Leadership & pay

40 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN SWALLOW (PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • ABIGAIL HANNA (EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT FOR ADMINISTRATION)
  • MICHELE HANCOCK (VICE PRESIDENT FOR COLLEGE CULTURE FOR INCLUSION)
  • BRIDGET HAGGERTY (VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVANCEMENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN SWALLOW (PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $645,345 total reported compensation
  • DAVID TIMMERMAN (PROVOST AND CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $310,605 total reported compensation
  • JIM PADILLA (DEAN, BUSINESS SCHOOL): $250,611 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Carthage College prepares students for lives of learning, leadership, and service. The College fosters intellectual curiosity, ethical reflection, and a commitment to the common good.

What it reported doing in 2024

Student services: carthage boasts a long-standing commitment to educating the whole person by nourishing the intellectual, spiritual, emotional, social and physical dimensions of students' lives. The college offers a curriculum that challenges students to think critically and express themselves effectively, a campus life that encourages involvement and service (over 124 student organizations), a community of faith that nurtures spiritual growth and develops moral responsibility, and co-curricular activities that inspire students to test their own limits and express their individuality. The award-winning state-of-the-art hedberg library unites books, periodicals, academic computing, network data ports and multimedia resources.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% 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 54% for direct work, and 46% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.6%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 83.4%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • 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: 96.7%; rating input score 97; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 6.2%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.18; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.8% per year; rating input score 100; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd 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: 79.6% of revenue deployed · 83.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 29 of 30 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $124.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $645K · 40 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.4M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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 26/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 57/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.