Council of Graduate Schools

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
522175852
IRS 990 coverage
2015–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Washington, DC, USA
Phone
2022233791
Rating
68
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Alliance/Advocacy Organizations

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$8,111,862
Expenses
$8,184,288
Assets
$18,134,283
Liabilities
$5,489,322

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Suzanne T Ortega (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Suzanne T Ortega (President): $643,986 total reported compensation
  • Keith I Peregonov (VP Finance, HR and Operations): $369,665 total reported compensation
  • Julia Kent (VP, Best Practices and Strategic Initiatives): $263,632 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Dedicated to the improvement and advancement of graduate education. As the largest national association organized specifically to represent the interests of graduate education, the Council offers many opportunities for deans and graduate school personnel to exchange ideas and share information on major issues in graduate education.

What it reported doing in 2024

Meetings and Workshops: CGS holds an annual meeting in December where participants explore important and current issues in graduate education. The meeting also provides opportunities for graduate leaders to exchange ideas and information. Graduate deans, associate and assistant deans, faculty and staff from colleges and universities, association, federal and state agencies, and other education related administrators, graduate students, and others interested in graduate education are invited. Pre-meeting workshops and plenary sessions, concurrent sessions, annual awards ceremony, and the Lapidus luncheon lecture comprise the annual meeting. Exhibits also are available to meeting attendees. CGS conducts a summer workshop for graduate deans with a fresh focus on hot topics that affect every facet of graduate education. Complementing the workshop is the new deans institute, a program tailored to orient new deans and integrate the workshop experience. CGS invites graduate deans, associate and assistant deans, and other faculty and staff from colleges, universities and associations to network with their colleagues. The CGS Board of Directors, staff and other specialists serve as core faculty for the new deans' institute and summer workshop. The summer workshop program includes informative plenary sessions, dean dialogues and hot topic sessions along with many opportunities for networking and interactive discussions on the issues most pressing to the graduate education community.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 78% for direct work, and 22% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 55
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 38
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 77.3%; rating input score 77
  • Program expense ratio: 70.6%; rating input score 71
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 20th 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: 24.7%; rating input score 25; 13th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -0.9%; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.22; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.3; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 27.3%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 77.3% of revenue deployed · 70.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $5.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $644K · 16 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $550K reported
  • Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 26 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 18 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.
  • 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: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 25/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 30/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.