Fontbonne University
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 430694556
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- St. Louis, MO, USA
- Phone
- 314-862-3456
- Rating
- 80
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,096,457
- Expenses
- $18,757,094
- Assets
- $14,698,283
- Liabilities
- $487,156
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
27 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NANCY BLATTNER (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- NANCY BLATTNER (PRESIDENT): $437,235 total reported compensation
- ADAM WEYHAUPT (EXECUTIVE VP AND PROVOST): $299,293 total reported compensation
- ANN SPALL (CFO/VP OF FINANCE & ADMIN): $171,556 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Fontbonne University, a Catholic institution founded by the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, provides transformative education committed to the common good, inspiring students to become global citizens who think critically and act ethically to create a more just world.
What it reported doing in 2024
Fontbonne is an accredited university that offers undergraduate, graduate, and doctoral degree programs, which also provides auxiliary services such as dormitories, dining hall and a book store for the convenience of its students and faculty. Total benefitted (average fte) = 359.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 77% 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 79% for direct work, and 21% 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: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 22
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 84%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $2.09 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 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: -131.7%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.78; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 7.2%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.6% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -2.8% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -4.9% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $15.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $437K · 27 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.1M reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 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: 6 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.
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 5/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.