Methodist Theological School in Ohio
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 314421101
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Delaware, OH, USA
- Phone
- 740-363-1146
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Graduate, Professional Schools (Separate Entities)
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $15,961,761
- Expenses
- $10,260,935
- Assets
- $78,935,418
- Liabilities
- $4,160,038
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JAY RUNDELL (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- JAY RUNDELL (PRESIDENT): $223,235 total reported compensation
- JAMES SUMMERS (TREASURER): $103,589 total reported compensation
- RYAN SHELLENBERG (FACULTY TRUSTEE): $84,687 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Methodist Theological School in Ohio provides theological education and leadership in pursuit of a just, sustainable and generative world. Our Vision. MTSO provides theological education and leadership in pursuit of a just, sustainable and generative world. The 2025 graduating class indicated strong satisfaction with both academic experiences and institutional support structures during their time at MTSO. Ninety-four percent of graduating students reported that faculty were supportive and understanding, and 92% indicated overall satisfaction with their academic experience. On a five-point scale, students’ overall satisfaction with their educational experience averaged 4.4. With students reporting strong satisfaction across key dimensions of educational quality, including quality of teaching (4.2), accessibility of faculty (4.2), class size (4.5), IT infrastructure (4.4)...
What it reported doing in 2024
Methodist theological school in Ohio (mtso) offers five master's degree programs serving 151 individuals and a doctor of ministry program serving 56 individuals. The school also provides public theology through such endeavors as the theological commons at mtso, the schooler institute on preaching and the williams institute lectures. Public lectures, workshops and symposia are offered throughout the year and served 639 individuals.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 59% for direct work, and 41% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 85
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 96%; rating input score 96
- Program expense ratio: 69.2%; rating input score 69
- Fundraising efficiency: $19.4 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- 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: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 35.7%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.69; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.6% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 96% of revenue deployed · 69.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $7.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $223K · 19 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 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: 5 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 56/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.