Elizabethtown College
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 231352632
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Elizabethtown, PA, USA
- Phone
- 717-361-3727
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $109,280,608
- Expenses
- $112,296,112
- Assets
- $239,141,248
- Liabilities
- $74,994,334
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
41 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BETTY RIDER (PRESIDENT)
- GERALD L SILBERMAN - SR ADVISOR (TO THE PRESIDENT (AS OF 07/24))
Highest reported compensation
- BETTY RIDER (PRESIDENT): $364,301 total reported compensation
- SARA ATWOOD (DEAN SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING): $233,551 total reported compensation
- BRIAN FALCK (VP FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT): $231,014 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Elizabethtown College is a private liberal arts college that educates students for lives of service, leadership, and discovery. The institution emphasizes a personalized, hands-on learning experience grounded in the liberal arts and sciences, with a strong commitment to community engagement and global citizenship.
What it reported doing in 2024
See schedule o
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 88% 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 64% for direct work, and 36% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.4%; rating input score 91
- Program expense ratio: 88.7%; rating input score 89
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th 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: Limited
- 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -2.8%; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.13; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.31; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0.1% per year; rating input score 100; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 21st 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: 91.4% of revenue deployed · 88.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $99.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $364K · 41 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.3M reported
- Consistency: 40 of 40 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 14 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.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 17/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 54/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.