Concordia College

Legal name: Concordia College Corporation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
410693977
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Moorhead, MN, USA
Phone
218.299.4000
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$138,334,204
Expenses
$116,177,564
Assets
$399,319,943
Liabilities
$47,534,911

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

Leadership & pay

36 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR COLIN IRVINE (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR COLIN IRVINE (PRESIDENT): $429,124 total reported compensation
  • DR SUSAN J LARSON (PROVOST AND DEAN OF THE COLLEGE): $192,617 total reported compensation
  • CHRISTOPHER J MASON (DEAN, OFFUTT SCHOOL OF BUSINESS): $180,080 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Concordia College, a liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, educates students to be responsible leaders in a global society through a curriculum that integrates the liberal arts with professional preparation.

What it reported doing in 2024

Concordia college owns and operates the concordia language villages. The language villages use immersion techniques to teach participants about other languages and cultures while giving concordia students the opportunity to gain practical teaching experience. The language villages offer instruction in 17 different languages with a variety of year-round programs designed for learners of every age. Most villages are located at various sites on turtle river lake near bemidji, mn, as well as at various leased sites throughout Minnesota. The villages recently added virtual villages, online immersion programming. During the fiscal year 2024-2025, concordia language villages enrolled 4,926 participants in a variety of programs offered throughout the year. Although the majority of programming takes place during the summer, the expansion of year-round language learning through the villages continues to grow.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 71% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 71% for direct work, and 29% 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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 86
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87%; rating input score 87
  • Program expense ratio: 86.9%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $11.47 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 95%; rating input score 95; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 16%; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.44; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -1.3% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 87% of revenue deployed · 86.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $101M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $429K · 36 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.2M reported
  • Consistency: 43 of 44 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 45/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.