Penn State Alumni Association
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 251554003
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2023
- Location
- University Park, PA, USA
- Phone
- 8148632809
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Alumni Associations
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $10,864,027
- Expenses
- $8,397,629
- Assets
- $110,278,184
- Liabilities
- $1,665,816
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
94 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- PAUL J CLIFFORD CEO (SECRETARY, TREASURER (EXIT 1/25)): $312,364 total reported compensation
- CATHY LEONARD EXECUTIVE (DIRECTOR OF MARKETING & OPERATIONS): $202,727 total reported compensation
- THOMAS HAMMOND EXECUTIVE (DIRECTOR OF ENGAGEMENT): $193,728 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To connect alumni to the university and to each other, to provide valued services to members, and to support the university's mission of teaching, research, and service.
What it reported doing in 2024
Recruitment of academically qualified students, student mentoring programs, and other programs designed to involve students with the university upon graduation.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 89% 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: 72
- Transparency & Controls: 71
- Accountability: 89
- Sustainability: 79
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.2%; rating input score 82
- Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
- 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; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 98.8%; rating input score 99; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Limited
- 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: 22.7%; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 13.13; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 15.4%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -4.6% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82.2% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 83 of 84 board members independent · 6 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $6.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $312K · 94 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $916K reported
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.