Northern Illinois University Alumni Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237013258
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2019
Forms available
Form 990 2019
Location
Dekalb, IL, USA
Phone
8157629890
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,196,387
Expenses
$1,296,582
Assets
$2,687,455
Liabilities
$329,869

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

28 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Joseph Sener (President)
  • Rich Escalante (Vice President)
  • Sankat Patel (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Reynaldo Bustinza (Secretary and Executive Direct): $152,854 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2019. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The association has a mission to build long term relationships with niu alumni and friends by communicating the message of excellence and creating opportunities for alumni and friends of the university to interact with the university community.

What it reported doing in 2019

The northern Illinois university alumni association is dedicated to enhancing the university's reputation and the cultivation and engagement of future and current alumni. Alumni are invited to become members of the niu alumni association. Benefits of membership include access to additional university activities. The association sponsors over 150 special events each year. A sampling of our major programming and events include: alumni awards: every year the niu aa recognizes the achievement of outstanding alumni based on professional and personal successes, as well as involvement in civic, cultural, or charitable activities. Alumni travel: alumni and friends of northern Illinois university join one another throughout the year on exciting and educational travel programs. All trips are open to the public and can be accompanied by an niu faculty member, an association staff member, and local guides. Membership: membership dues are used to support alumni programming. Membership demonstrates an alumnus dedication to the future success of niu. Membership also grants member benefits both on and off campus. Some benefits are: - special pricing on career vision advantage assessments and career consulting service for alumni and members of their immediate families - access to online career enhancement series - discounts on alumni event registrations and football season tickets and discounts on purchases from niu press, holmes student center bookstore, and barsema alumni and visitors center alumni shop career consulting service for alumni and members of their immediate families

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 76% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 98% 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. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 41
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95.4%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 86.4%; rating input score 86
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 74th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -8.4%; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.07; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.9%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 95.4% of revenue deployed · 86.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $1.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $153K · 28 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $709K reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 filing years from 2009 to 2019
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 18/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.