Lawrence University
Legal name: Lawrence University of Wisconsin
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 390806297
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2014
- Location
- Appleton, WI, USA
- Phone
- 9208327000
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $137,939,503
- Expenses
- $149,933,275
- Assets
- $680,558,124
- Liabilities
- $112,501,110
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
52 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LAURIE CARTER (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- LAURIE CARTER (PRESIDENT): $598,587 total reported compensation
- BRIAN PERTL (DEAN OF CONSERVATORY OF MUSIC): $338,081 total reported compensation
- CALVIN D HUSMANN (SENIOR PRINCIPAL GIFT OFFICER): $320,471 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Since its founding in 1847, Lawrence's mission is to pursue excellence and integrity in all endeavors; it educates students in the liberal arts and sciences (through its undergraduate residential college and Conservatory of Music) and prepares students for lives of achievement, responsible and meaningful citizenship, lifelong learning, and personal fulfillment.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provide liberal arts instruction to approximately 1500 university students. Lawrence curriculum promotes exposure to a wide range of subject matters and intellectual approaches. It also calls for the focused study of a single area of knowledge. Within this general framework, the student exercises wide latitude in building a course of study. A lawrence education, then, results from considered choices. The college provides ample room for such choices and encourages students to exercise them boldly. The lawrence university conservatory of music, now in its second century of educating students for careers in music, is a nationally recognized conservatory devoted exclusively to the education of undergraduates within a distinguished college of the liberal arts and sciences. The lawrence community music school provides musical opportunities for citizens of the fox valley from birth to adulthood and offers lawrence conservatory music education students guided opportunities to hone their teaching skills. A superb faculty of performers, composers, scholars, and teachers pride themselves on the individual attention given to music majors who pursue their undergraduate degrees at lawrence.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 76% 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 57% for direct work, and 43% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 88
- Transparency & Controls: 80
- Accountability: 93
- Sustainability: 43
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 99.8%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 85.8%; rating input score 86
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- 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: 95.7%; rating input score 96; 49th 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -8.7%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.54; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.6%; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 99.8% of revenue deployed · 85.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 22 of 23 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $128.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $599K · 52 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 3 contractors listed · $565K reported
- Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 15 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.
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 43/100.