Questa Education Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
356025795
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Fort Wayne, IN, USA
Phone
2604076494
Rating
89
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and/or Fund Distribution

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$4,765,800
Expenses
$3,782,879
Assets
$19,877,432
Liabilities
$215,830

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

Leadership & pay

18 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • Elizabeth Bushnell PhD (Executive Dir.): $133,570 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Questa Education Foundation helps individuals access post-secondary education, graduate with less debt, and become contributing members of Northeast Indianas workforce.

What it reported doing in 2024

Questa Education Foundation administers the following loan and scholarship programs: During fiscal year 2025, Questa Foundation provided over $3,671,600 in Questa Scholars loans to 616 students primarily from Adams, Allen, DeKalb, Huntington, Kosciuscko, LaGrange, Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley counties attending college. Students in the Questa Scholars Program are typically eligible to borrow up to $20,000 over four years ($2,500 per semester for up to $5,000 per academic year) for college. Students who graduate college and meet certain residency and employment requirements in northeast Indiana for 1 - 5 years after college typically become eligible to have 50% - 100% of the principal loan balance forgiven over the five years. Please see Schedule O for further information.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. No material rating questions were generated from the available inputs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 80
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 79
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.7%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 88.6%; rating input score 89
  • Fundraising efficiency: $21.93 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: 20.6%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.25; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.5%; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 21.4% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 19.2% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.4% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.7% of revenue deployed · 88.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $3.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $134K · 18 people listed
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 6 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.