Michigan Student Assembly of the University of Michigan

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
382397329
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Phone
7347633241
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,351,583
Expenses
$1,206,257
Assets
$1,196,889
Liabilities
$877,998

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

Leadership & pay

7 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Meera Herle (President (2023-2024))
  • Bipasha Ray (Vice President (2023-2024))
  • Alifa Chowdhury (President 2024 (Mar-Dec))
  • Elias Atkinson (Vice President 2024 (Mar-Dec))

People named in this filing

  • Meera Herle (President (2023-2024))
  • Bipasha Ray (Vice President (2023-2024))
  • Ian Concannon (Treasurer (2023-2024))

Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.

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

Overview

Mission

We, the Michigan Student Assembly (MSA) of the University of Michigan, are comprised of students of different backgrounds who have come together to serve our fellow students and the entire University of Michigan community. Through our work and advocacy, we seek to encourage student civic engagement, give voice to student concerns, and enhance student welfare and the Michigan experience for everyone. MSA is motivated by the belief that there is no deeper expression of commitment to our school than to work to improve Michigan so that it realizes its greatest potential.

What it reported doing in 2024

MSA supports payments to 314 UM registered/recognized student organizations, to fund student extracurricular activities and events. MSA operates its funding to student organizations through a reimbursement process. Registered UM student organizations must apply to MSA for funding events that directly affect the greater UM student/non-student community. All funding is awarded through a reimbursement process where UM student organizations are required to submit authentic proof of payment of applied for and awarded event expenses, and MSA verifies such expenses and reimburses the student organizations for the awarded and approved expenses. MSA retains all student organization funding applications and expense proof of payments for up to 5 to 7 years.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 95% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 41% for direct work, 58% for grants, and 1% for affiliated organizations.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 83
  • Transparency & Controls: 66
  • Accountability: 76
  • Sustainability: 53
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 89.2%; rating input score 89
  • Program expense ratio: 99.9%; rating input score 100
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 1st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 47.7%; rating input score 48; 28th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.8%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.99; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.73; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.3% per year; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 89.2% of revenue deployed · 99.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 50 of 50 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 7 people listed
  • Consistency: 17 of 19 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes grants
  • Filing history: 4 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 33 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 33 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.

  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 48/100.
  • Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 6 not reported.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 42/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 10/100.