Hobart and William Smith Colleges
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 160743040
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Geneva, NY, USA
- Phone
- (315) 781-3725
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $282,262,187
- Expenses
- $201,006,687
- Assets
- $514,461,027
- Liabilities
- $84,049,235
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
42 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MARK GEARAN (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- MARK GEARAN (PRESIDENT): $847,296 total reported compensation
- SARAH KIRK (PROVOST AND DEAN OF FACULT): $384,394 total reported compensation
- ROBERT O'CONNOR (VP AND SENIOR PHILANTHROPI): $339,765 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Hobart and William Smith Colleges prepare students to lead lives of consequence through a rigorous, interdisciplinary liberal arts education that emphasizes global citizenship, ethical leadership, and a commitment to the public good.
What it reported doing in 2024
Hobart and william smith is a residential liberal arts and sciences institution known for consistent success in preparing students for meaningful lives and fulfilling careers through an outcomes-based focus on their futures. To best prepare students for impact and success, hws nurtures intellectual, professional, and ethical development through 70 academic programs. In a relationship-rich learning environment, students complement broad, interdisciplinary study with hands-on learning experiences made possible by hws' centers for experience, action, and thought. More than 60% of hws students study abroad, all participate in community service, and hws guarantees all students access to an internship or research experience. The wall street journal ranks hws #4 in the nation for student experience during 2025.
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 52% for direct work, and 48% 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 filed totals do not add up.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 72
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 80
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.1%; rating input score 69
- Program expense ratio: 87.4%; rating input score 87
- Fundraising efficiency: $22.28 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 88.9%; rating input score 89; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- 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: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 32nd 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: 28.8%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.56; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.5%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 69.1% of revenue deployed · 87.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 30 of 35 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $175.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $847K · 42 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $32.3M reported
- Consistency: 39 of 41 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.