Limestone University
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 570314402
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2020
- Location
- Gaffney, SC, US
- Phone
- 8007957151
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $46,519,696
- Expenses
- $57,582,365
- Assets
- $49,593,089
- Liabilities
- $35,825,842
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
32 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- NATHAN COPELAND (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- NATHAN COPELAND (PRESIDENT): $257,222 total reported compensation
- JEREMY WHITAKER (CFO): $243,971 total reported compensation
- STACY ALDRICH (VP FOR INSTITUTIONAL ADVANCEMENT): $230,857 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Once a Saint, Always a Saint.
What it reported doing in 2024
Limestone university provided post-secondary education for approximately 2,150 fte degree-seeking students, including academic/student support and auxiliary services.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 96% 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 66% for direct work, and 34% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 86
- Sustainability: 21
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 75.6%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 67
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -23.8%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.86; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.72; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.7%; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 75.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $43.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $257K · 32 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 32 of 32 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: 9 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.
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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 31/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 17/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.