Lindenwood Education System

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
430652649
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2008
Location
St Charles, MO, USA
Phone
6369494900
Rating
72
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
University or Technological Institute

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$229,713,569
Expenses
$228,425,656
Assets
$613,837,044
Liabilities
$245,556,994

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

32 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN PORTER (PRESIDENT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • DEB AYRES (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, HR)
  • ROB WESTERVELT (VICE PRESIDENT, ENROLLMENT)
  • DIANE MOORE (SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT, OPERATIONS)
  • TJ RAINS (VICE PRESIDENT, IT & CIO (THRU 8/24))

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN PORTER (PRESIDENT, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $871,743 total reported compensation
  • MARK FALKOWSKI (SENIOR VP, CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER): $477,593 total reported compensation
  • JOHN KAUFHOLD (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $359,297 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Expand Access, Diversify Programs, Foster Innovation

What it reported doing in 2024

See schedule olindenwood university: instructional and library - faculty, library and curriculum expense for students earning an undergraduate, graduate, education specialist, and doctoral degrees serving approximately 6,078 full-time equivalent students as of the fiscal year ended 6/30/2025. Approximately 10,325 students were served. Student services - along with admissions, academic services, and financial aid departments, lindenwood has a student activities office that serves as a coordinating center on campus and works with over 90 student clubs and organizations to facilitate their activities and projects. The athletic department has 22 ncaa division i sports for men and women and 12 other nationally affiliated sports. Auxiliary - student room and board and as of fiscal year 6/30/2025, approximately 1,923 students were served.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 90% 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 78% for direct work, and 22% 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 68
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 49
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.8%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 82.2%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.91 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 5; 5th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: No; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: Fail
    • 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: 0.6%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.69; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.4; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.1%; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 79.8% of revenue deployed · 82.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $187.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $872K · 32 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $444K reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 13 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: 17 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 4 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.

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: Foreign activity oversight: 8 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 5/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 45/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 53/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.