Pacific Lutheran University

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
910565571
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2008
Location
Tacoma, WA, United States
Phone
253-535-7459
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
University or Technological Institute
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$157,869,351
Expenses
$163,733,122
Assets
$284,256,855
Liabilities
$80,060,000

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

Leadership & pay

37 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • L Allan Belton (President)

Highest reported compensation

  • L Allan Belton (President): $519,606 total reported compensation
  • Joanna Gregson (Provost): $245,161 total reported compensation
  • David Ward (Dean, College of Health Prof): $224,673 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

PLU seeks to educate students for lives of thoughtful inquiry, service, leadership and care—for other people, for their communities and for the Earth. PLU BY THE NUMBERS Learn More. PLU’s MSCY prepares you to step into a field where your work truly matters. Cybersecurity protects the systems and data that support health care, finance, government, and critical infrastructure for everyday life. Information Sessions How to Apply The graduate programs at Pacific Lutheran University are designed to combine practice and theory to prepare students to take the next step in their careers.

What it reported doing in 2024

Auxiliary enterprises: plu offers nine residence halls; eight traditional style residence halls and one apartment-style complex. During the 2024-25 academic year, on-campus residential students served 1,067 students in fall and spring semesters. Pludelivered dining services to students, faculty, staff and the neighboring community. We are dedicated to providing nutritionally sound and sustainably sourced meals at our modern dining hall, at a noted restaurant open to the public and campus community, and through several convenient quick serve options located across campus. Dining services is a campus leader in sustainable initiatives, offers nutrition education and culinary adventure classes, available to everyone. Plu hosted over 27,000 guests attending approximately 60 non-plu conferences, camps and events during 2022-2023. Conferences range in size from one-day trainings to overnight retreats; education conferences; music concerts; sports camps and clinics. Plus, hospitality services and campus restaurants, including the catering department, provides meals for most events as well as plu functions. Plu rented residence hall rooms and campus meeting spaces to nearly 3,000 guests over the span of 2 months during the summer conference season.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 91% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 53% for direct work, and 47% 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 76
  • Accountability: 98
  • Sustainability: 39
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 95%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 91.6%; rating input score 92
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.46 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • 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; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.4%; rating input score 96; 51st 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: -3.7%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.74; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.28; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 1.3%; rating input score 68; 68th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.2% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 95% of revenue deployed · 91.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 28 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $150M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $520K · 37 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2M reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 11 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: 10 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 29/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 15/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 58/100.