Roosevelt University

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
362167854
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024, Form 990-N 2014
Location
Chicago, IL, US
Phone
312-341-6461
Rating
80
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$145,744,413
Expenses
$145,582,559
Assets
$396,021,414
Liabilities
$281,694,685

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

Leadership & pay

67 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR ALI R MALEKZADEH (PRESIDENT & CEO)
  • MICHAEL JON CASSIDY (VICE PRESIDENT OF ATHLETICS)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR ALI R MALEKZADEH (PRESIDENT & CEO): $735,358 total reported compensation
  • ARLENE R REGNERUS (VP FINANCE/ADMIN CFO/TREASURER): $297,314 total reported compensation
  • NICOLE M BARRON (VP ENROLLLMENT ADVANCEMT AND MKTG): $293,027 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Education for all. And Justice For All.

What it reported doing in 2024

Roosevelt university offers programs and services that reinforce its student-centered mission. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, graduate and certificate programs and is committed to the highest academic standards for all programs. Class schedules are flexible. Courses are offered from early morning until late at night, as well as on weekends. Additionally, in fall 2024, the university offered more than 250 online class sections with course enrollments exceeding 5,000 students. Fully online degree programs are available. Class sizes are small. At the undergraduate level, the average class size is 21 and at the graduate level, the average class size is 15. Roosevelt serves approximately 2,850 undergraduate and 1,425 graduate students. The following is a listing of the approximate number of students by college: humanities, education and social science - 1,475 students; performing arts - 475 students; business - 925 students; and science, health, and pharmacy - 1,400 students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 83% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 78% for direct work, and 22% 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: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 81
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 43
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 93.2%; rating input score 93
  • Program expense ratio: 87.9%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Pass
    • 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: 84.2%; rating input score 84; 31st 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: 0.1%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.72; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.71; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.9%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0% per year; rating input score 100; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 93.2% of revenue deployed · 87.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 32 of 38 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $128M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $735K · 67 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $12.1M reported
  • Consistency: 45 of 45 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 14 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 20 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: Foreign activity oversight: 6 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 31/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.