Intercollegiate Studies Institute Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 236050131
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Wilmington, DE, USA
- Phone
- 3026524600
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Higher Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,689,496
- Expenses
- $9,451,850
- Assets
- $37,084,256
- Liabilities
- $2,176,466
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JOHN A BURTKA IV (PRESIDENT & CEO)
- DANIEL MCCARTHY (VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITOR-)
Highest reported compensation
- JOHN A BURTKA IV (PRESIDENT & CEO): $357,884 total reported compensation
- PAUL RHEIN (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $195,166 total reported compensation
- MATTHEW BRACH (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $193,169 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
We inspire college students to discover, embrace, and advance the principles that make america good, free, and prosperous.
What it reported doing in 2024
The isi collegiate network supports independent student newspapers, magazines and journals, paid summer internships and postgraduate, year-long fellowships at prominent media outlets to promising student journalists committed to the principles of liberty.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 72% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 88% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
- 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: 78
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 91.9%; rating input score 92
- Program expense ratio: 73.1%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 24th 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: Pass
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 98.4%; rating input score 98; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -8.8%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.92; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 13.3%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.8% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 91.9% of revenue deployed · 73.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $358K · 20 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.5M reported
- Consistency: 41 of 42 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.