Collegian Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
240861373
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
University Park, PA, USA
Phone
8148652531
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Education N.E.C.

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$490,769
Expenses
$577,980
Assets
$1,517,382
Liabilities
$138,168

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

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BILL ZIMMERMAN (PRESIDENT)
  • MAGGIE ANDERSON (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • WAYNE LOWMAN (GEN MGR/SECRETARY UNTIL SEPT 2024): $79,787 total reported compensation
  • BRENT ADDLEMAN (GENERAL MANAGER AS OF SEPT 2024): $18,750 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To publish a quality collegiate newspaper for the penn state community and to provide a rewarding educational experience for the student staff members.

What it reported doing in 2024

The collegian educates students about the fields of journalism, business, management, and publishing by supervising the preparation, printing, and distribution of the daily collegian, the weekly collegian, and the collegian magazine, p.s, and the daily collegian online. The corporation's revenue is primarily derived from the circulation of and advertisements placed in the publications noted above.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 84% 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 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 93
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 33
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 98.6%; rating input score 99
  • Program expense ratio: 83.5%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Fail
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -17.8%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.63; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 17%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -8.6% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -7.1% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 98.6% of revenue deployed · 83.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $483K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 13 people listed
  • Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 27/100.