John Paul the Great Catholic University
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 200471061
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Escondido, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8586536740
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- University or Technological Institute
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $9,447,277
- Expenses
- $9,504,113
- Assets
- $14,150,402
- Liabilities
- $9,396,499
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Jeremiah F Connolly (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Martin Harold (Director VP of Admissions): $118,661 total reported compensation
- Kevin Meziere (CFO/COO): $105,953 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To impact culture for Christ by forming students as creators and innovators, leaders and entrepreneurs in the Creative Arts and Business Innovation and steeped in the Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Our campus is located in Escondido, a suburb of San Diego located 2 hours from Hollywood. Southern California is at the epicenter of the world's largest and most globally influential Creative Arts industry cluster, allowing us to attract world-class industry veterans as faculty. Seniors have the opportunity to experience the Los Angeles entertainment industry as part of our L.A. internship quarter. The Escondido creative arts infrastructure and community provides an ideal context for cultivating our student’s artistic imagination. Learn more Our Story.
What it reported doing in 2024
Conduct higher education curriculums and programs for its students
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 82% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 78
- Sustainability: 40
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 67.2%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 66.9%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 70%; rating input score 70; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- 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: -0.6%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.49; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.66; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 6.1% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.6% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.9% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 67.2% of revenue deployed · 66.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 10 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $119K · 10 people listed
- Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $1.6M reported
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 34/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Whistleblower policy not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 14/100.