Regent University
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 541061178
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2012
- Location
- Virginia Beach, VA, US
- Phone
- 800.373.5504
- Rating
- 77
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $189,426,241
- Expenses
- $168,838,408
- Assets
- $239,013,915
- Liabilities
- $96,717,036
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
31 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Gordon P Robertson (Chancellor/Chief Executive Officer)
- Louis A Isakoff (Sr Vice President and General Counsel)
- Martha J Smith (Vice President for Human Resources & Administration)
- Joseph Umidi (Executive Vice President for Student Life)
Highest reported compensation
- Gordon P Robertson (Chancellor/Chief Executive Officer): $973,222 total reported compensation
- Louis A Isakoff (Sr Vice President and General Counsel): $445,319 total reported compensation
- Dorothy C Foster (Exec VP Advancement/Enrollment Services): $359,376 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Regent University is a Christian institution dedicated to transforming lives through academic excellence and spiritual growth, preparing students for leadership and service in a global society.
What it reported doing in 2024
Instruction - Schools of Communication & the Arts, Business & Leadership, Education, Psychology & Counseling, Divinity, Law, Government and College of Arts and Sciences and College of Health Care Sciences. Includes Academic Support, Student Services, Scholarships, Auxiliaries & Academic Affairs. 1,230 Graduate degrees, 730 Bachelor degrees, 196 First Professional degrees and 46 Associate degrees were awarded in 2024-2025. (10,657 students)
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 89% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 80% 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.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - 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: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 67
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 61
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 76.6%; rating input score 77
- Program expense ratio: 83.9%; rating input score 84
- Fundraising efficiency: $7.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Pass
- 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: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Claims monitoring procedures: Fail
- Requires narrative reports: Fail
- Conducts field audits: Fail
- 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: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 47th 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: 10.9%; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.42; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.4; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -3.2% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 9 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 76.6% of revenue deployed · 83.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $141.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $973K · 31 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $19.7M reported
- Consistency: 48 of 48 current checks pass
- Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 14 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 5 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.
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: 8 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 51/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 48/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.