Mount Mary University
Legal name: Mount Mary University Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 390806154
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Milwaukee, WI, USA
- Phone
- 4149303033
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $40,298,948
- Expenses
- $42,934,360
- Assets
- $71,774,808
- Liabilities
- $6,508,714
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
40 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ALIOTO KERI (VICE PRESIDENT OF STUDENT AFFAIRS)
- CHERNEY ISABELLE (PRESIDENT)
- FRIEDLEN KAREN (VICE PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS)
- MULLIGAN JESSICA (VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVANCEMENT)
- O'KEEFE ROBERT (VICE PRESIDENT OF ADMINISTRATION AND CFO)
- STAPLETON ANDREA (VICE PRESIDENT OF MISSION AND JUSTICE)
Highest reported compensation
- CHERNEY ISABELLE (PRESIDENT): $335,117 total reported compensation
- MULLIGAN JESSICA (VICE PRESIDENT OF ADVANCEMENT): $174,636 total reported compensation
- FRIEDLEN KAREN (VICE PRESIDENT OF ACADEMIC AFFAIRS): $167,601 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Mount Mary University, rooted in its Catholic faith and the educational mission of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, educates women to transform the world.
What it reported doing in 2024
The university serviced approximately 1,386 students with admissions, recruitment, orientation, financial aid, tutoring, student engagement, campus ministry, student advising, fitness center, career development, counseling center, registrar, resident life, information technology and athletic teams for support of the whole student.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 76% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 54% for direct work, and 46% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - 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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 71
- Transparency & Controls: 77
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 39
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.2%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 76.6%; rating input score 77
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 95.8%; rating input score 96; 29th 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: -6.5%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.67; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.1%; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 82.2% of revenue deployed · 76.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 23 of 24 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $32.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $335K · 40 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
- Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
- Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 12 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 59/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.