Marian University

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
350868175
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Indianapolis, IN, US
Phone
(317) 955-6000
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Undergraduate College (4-year)
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$200,146,172
Expenses
$194,003,720
Assets
$417,820,309
Liabilities
$188,452,992

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

Leadership & pay

74 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DANIEL J ELSENER (PRESIDENT, MARIAN UNIVERSITY)

Highest reported compensation

  • DANIEL J ELSENER (PRESIDENT, MARIAN UNIVERSITY): $1,031,964 total reported compensation
  • AMANDA WRIGHT (DEAN OF COM): $442,279 total reported compensation
  • CLIF KNIGHT (ASSIST. DEAN OF CLINIC AFFAIRS): $437,897 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 provide an education distinguished in its ability to prepare transformative leaders for service to the world; To be a great Catholic university dedicated to achieving excellence in learning, achieved through teaching, research, and scholarly activities in the Franciscan and liberal arts tradition.

What it reported doing in 2024

Marian university served 3,721 students as measured fall, 2024. This was comprised of 2,614 undergraduate, 470 graduate and 634 doctoral and 3 certification students. Included in these demographics are traditional full and part-time undergraduates, accelerated on-line adult programs, accelerated 2nd degree nursing, medical and other doctoral and graduate students. Marian offers 49 undergraduate degrees. The top 10 programs in terms of number of majors are: nursing, management, biology, excercise science, business, marketing, finance, liberal arts, elementary education, and psychological science. Graduate programs currently offered are: biomedical sciences, clinical exercise physiology, counseling, education leadership, leadership practice, special education, physiology of exercise, and engineering physics. Doctoral programs currently offerred are doctor of osteopathic medicine, family nurse practitioner, nurse anesthesia and organizational leadership. Demographic information regarding the marian student population is as follows: male 38.9% and female 61.0% and other .1%. Ipeds race/ethnicity: white - 56.4%, black or african american - 15.4%, hispanic/latino - 12.8%, asian - 4.9%, two or more races - 4.3%, and all others - 6.2%. Religion: christian, roman catholic - 38.4%, christian - other - 47.7%, other or no religion, 13.9%. The college of osteopathic medicine is the only college of osteopathic medicine in the state of Indiana and the 2nd medical school (along with Indiana university medical school). The university graduated its first class in spring 2017. The primary goal is to place physicians in Indiana and the neighboring states. Placement demographics for the class of 2024 includes: 100% placement rate, 56% in primary care with 79% in physician shortage areas. 67% of graduates matched in Indiana and surrounding states, with a total of matches in 25 states and 71 cities. In october, 2020 marian announced the launch of the e.s. Witchger school of engineering. The inaugural class entered in fall 2022 and in fall 2023 marian opened a state-of-art engineering facility. Degrees offered in biomedical, chemical, civil, computer and mechanical engineering. Fall 2023 attendance included 135 engineering students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 81% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 70% for direct work, and 30% 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: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 50
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.5%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 85.4%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 98%; rating input score 98; 54th 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: 3.1%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.15; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.45; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 9 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 83.5% of revenue deployed · 85.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 50 of 51 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $165.6M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1M · 74 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $18M reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 43 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 14 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 25 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.

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 scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 43/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 48/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 29/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 40/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D expense reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule D revenue reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.