Northwestern College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
420698196
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Orange City, IA, USA
Phone
712-707-7000
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Undergraduate College (4-year)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$74,440,561
Expenses
$63,470,660
Assets
$198,722,202
Liabilities
$9,923,633

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

Leadership & pay

38 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Gregory Christy (President)
  • Tony Hoops (Vice President of Athletics)
  • Jackie A Davis (Vice President of Advancement)

Highest reported compensation

  • Gregory Christy (President): $351,434 total reported compensation
  • D Nathan Phinney (VP of Academic Affairs): $161,896 total reported compensation
  • Kent Wiersema (VP of Finance and Operations): $154,370 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Northwestern College is a Christian academic community that challenges and supports students to make a difference in God's world.

What it reported doing in 2024

Higher Education: Providing educational opportunities & service to 1719 students, consisting of 1198 on-campus and commuting students and 521 online students, at less than the aggregated costs of those services. Making grants to faculty members to further their education and to students to defray tuition & fees and room & board costs.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 83% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 58% for direct work, and 42% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 78
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 81.9%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 86.7%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $4.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Pass
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 32nd 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: 14.7%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.13; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.2%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 81.9% of revenue deployed · 86.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 24 of 28 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $55M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $351K · 38 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $11.4M reported
  • Consistency: 50 of 51 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

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: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 16/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.