Christian Brothers University

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
620476666
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Jul 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Memphis, TN, USA
Phone
(901) 321-3305
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
University or Technological Institute
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$71,692,855
Expenses
$66,007,994
Assets
$102,175,340
Liabilities
$11,003,969

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

Leadership & pay

27 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • AARON B LAMEY (NAB PRESIDENT)
  • DAVID L ARCHER (PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSIT)
  • BR CHRIS ENGLERT (INTERIM PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • RONALD L BRANDON (VP - ADMINISTRATION & FINA): $304,548 total reported compensation
  • NAT FLICKINGER (VP ADVANCEMENT): $211,395 total reported compensation
  • BETH GERL (VP STUDENT DEVELOPMENT/CAMPUS LIFE): $179,008 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Christian Brothers University is a Catholic university in the student-centered tradition of the De La Salle Christian Brothers; it fosters academic excellence to prepare students from all faiths and backgrounds for careers and lives informed by the Lasallian values of faith, service, and community. World War I strained the Saint Louis District of the Christian Brothers, which governed the Memphis college and another in St. Louis. With so many young men away serving in the military, the District could not support two colleges. In June 1915, Christian Brothers College awarded its last college degrees for several decades. Elementary classes were dropped in 1922, and the institution operated as a high school only for the next 18 years. During the 1920s and 1930s, the high school’s enrollment outgrew the Adams Street facility. In 1939, a joint public fundraising drive with St. Agnes...

What it reported doing in 2024

Private catholic university offering undergraduate and graduate degrees in the tradition of the christian brothers. The principal activity of cbu is to provide advanced study to students in an inter-faith educational community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 60% 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 56% for direct work, and 44% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 63
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74%; rating input score 74
  • Program expense ratio: 78.6%; rating input score 79
  • Fundraising efficiency: $19.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.9%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.55; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.11; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 74% of revenue deployed · 78.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $51.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $305K · 27 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.6M reported
  • Consistency: 36 of 36 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 57/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.