Northwest Nazarene University

Legal name: Northwest Nazarene University Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
820200907
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Nampa, ID, USA
Phone
2084678525
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Undergraduate College (4-year)
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$76,143,987
Expenses
$70,266,139
Assets
$189,613,610
Liabilities
$31,245,506

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

Leadership & pay

48 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOEL PEARSALL (PRESIDENT)
  • KELLI LINDLEY (VICE PRESIDENT OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOEL PEARSALL (PRESIDENT): $259,468 total reported compensation
  • BRENT PETERSON (DEAN OF THE SCHOOL OF THEOLOGY): $203,453 total reported compensation
  • STEVE EMERSON (VP OF FINANCE & OPERATIONS): $199,659 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 mission of Northwest Nazarene University is the transformation of the whole person. Centered in Jesus Christ, the NNU education instills habits of heart, soul, mind and strength to enable each student to become God’s creative and redemptive agent in the world. We believe education flourishes in community. NNU provides a learning and faith community that teaches, challenges and encourages each other through intellectual and spiritual practices. Within covenantal relationships, we express our love for God and others. Service We believe education cultivates service. NNU teaches the importance of a life of servanthood as modeled by Jesus Christ. We learn to lead by giving of ourselves to God and humankind.

What it reported doing in 2024

Academic support and student services: library services: nnu's library resources are excellent and most are delivered via the web with access to libraries across the country and around the world.marketing and media: nnu's office of marketing and media is responsible for helping the university tell its story -- that nnu seeks a more excellent way; a way rooted in love. The audience for this story includes prospective students, donors, alumni, the community, media, and faculty and staff. The office offers its services across campus in marketing, branding, research or expertise in content development, design, photography, and media relations, to help each department tell its own part of the nnu story.academic support center: provides a variety of services to all nnu students, including writing consulting, subject area tutoring by peers, and courses for credits.information technology services (its): offers computer technical support to the nnu campus and a wide variety of audio/visual services to the campus, area churches, and the community. Services offered including making copies, transparencies, providing materials needed to produce instructional materials and signs, laminating, audio and video recording and duplicating, photography, sending and receiving faxes, and other related services. Its maintains a large inventory of media equipment that is available for classroom instruction, for student assignments, and for use by other members of the campus community.student development: the office of student development is charged with taking care of every aspect of the student experience at nnu. It includes residential life, student government, spiritual life, the campus wellness center, multicultural affairs, intramural athletics, and the career center.intercollegiate athletics: nnu is a member of the great northwest athletic conference (gnac), comprised of 11 ncaa division ii schools. Sports offered at nnu include men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's soccer, men's and women's golf, men's baseball, women's softball, and women's volleyball.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 82% 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 64% for direct work, and 36% 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 the filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 79
  • Transparency & Controls: 78
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 67
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 86.2%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 87.8%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.08 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Pass
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: 7.7%; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.7; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.16; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.2%; rating input score 52; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.9% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 86.2% of revenue deployed · 87.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 38 of 38 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $61.7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $259K · 48 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.6M reported
  • Consistency: 41 of 41 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 9 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 52/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.