MathPath
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 201290489
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2012–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Grand Rapids, MI, USA
- Phone
- 9894024756
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Specialized Education Institutions
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $891,694
- Expenses
- $788,135
- Assets
- $3,648,687
- Liabilities
- $1,288
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Sam Vandervelde (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Lara Pudwell (Executive Dir.): $15,667 total reported compensation
- Sam Vandervelde (President): $3,075 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The organization's mission is to inspire and advance the most mathematically gifted middle school students in the U.S., Canada, and the world through an annual summer camp that is affordable for all qualified students.
What it reported doing in 2024
MathPath is a 4-week residential math program attended each summer by about 100 mathematically interested students from around the world. It changes location from year to year; in 2025 it was held at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was attended face-to-face by 112 students. Financial aid was awarded to 13 of those students. Each week each student took 2 math courses from 12 offered and each workday also attended 3 all-camp lectures. A problem of the day was posed each day to encourage the students to think "outside the box." To give students a well-rounded experience, physical activities such as hiking, frisbee, and volleyball were offered in free time. The weekends were filled with trips to local sites depending on the location of the camp. Field trips included a science museum, candle factory, and amusement park.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 79% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 94
- Accountability: 56
- Sustainability: 71
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.3%; rating input score 80
- Program expense ratio: 94.9%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 2 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 22
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.6%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.63; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.9% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 80th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.3% of revenue deployed · 94.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 2 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $748K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $16K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 58/100.