Marshall University Foundation
Legal name: Marshall University Foundation Incorporated
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 556011111
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Huntington, WV, US
- Phone
- (304) 696-6264
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $85,061,153
- Expenses
- $19,801,569
- Assets
- $441,956,283
- Liabilities
- $70,476,315
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
28 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Dr Ronald Area (CEO (Retired))
- Mr Nicolas Karagosian (CEO/Foundation President)
Highest reported compensation
- Dr Ronald Area (CEO (Retired)): $334,870 total reported compensation
- Mr R Scott Anderson (CFO): $189,972 total reported compensation
- Mr Nicolas Karagosian (CEO/Foundation President): $126,381 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 secure private financial support for Marshall University and encourage greater participation by alumni and friends.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization provides support to the university broadly and to individual departments in support of their respective education priorities in the form of payroll and stipend support, as well as to designated funds on behalf of departmental and university projects.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 95% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 41% for direct work, and 59% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 45
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 88
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 22.7%; rating input score 23
- Program expense ratio: 74.9%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: $33.61 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 31st 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: Limited
- 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: 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: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 76.7%; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 22.32; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.3%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.1% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 22.7% of revenue deployed · 74.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $14.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $335K · 28 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $637K reported
- Consistency: 48 of 49 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 5 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 23/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 34/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.