Philander Smith University
Legal name: Philander Smith College
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 710239729
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2022
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2022
- Location
- Little Rock, AR, US
- Phone
- (501) 370-5297
- Rating
- 75
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $25,344,806
- Expenses
- $29,745,895
- Assets
- $67,926,013
- Liabilities
- $12,631,106
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Dr Roderick L Smothers Sr (President)
- Ms LaTonya Hayes (Vice President of Sponsored Programs)
- Mr Charles King (Vice President of Institutional Advancement)
- Dr Gregory Hudson (Vice President of Student Affairs and Enrollment Management)
- Dr Shannon Clowney-Johnson (Interim Vice President of Academic Affairs)
- Ms Willie Hughey (Vice President of Fiscal Affairs)
Highest reported compensation
- Dr Roderick L Smothers Sr (President): $475,007 total reported compensation
- Ms LaTonya Hayes (Vice President of Sponsored Programs): $144,420 total reported compensation
- Mr Charles King (Vice President of Institutional Advancement): $126,519 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2022. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Advancing excellence, equity, and opportunity for today and beyond.
What it reported doing in 2022
Philander Smith College offers four degrees, including the Bachelor of Business Administration, the Bachelor of Science, the Bachelor of Social Work, and the Bachelor of Arts, as well as certificates and dual credits for College and Career pathways.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 78% for direct work, and 22% for grants.
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 expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 68
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 88.6%; rating input score 89
- Program expense ratio: 75.5%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: Limited
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -17.4%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.28; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.9%; rating input score 57; 57th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 2.1% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 88.6% of revenue deployed · 75.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $22.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $475K · 26 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4.3M reported
- Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes grants and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2022
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 57/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.