Spelman College
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 580566243
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jul 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Atlanta, GA, United States
- Phone
- 404-270-5193
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $174,023,542
- Expenses
- $186,365,679
- Assets
- $1,030,254,800
- Liabilities
- $66,170,015
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
58 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Helene Gayle (President (thru 11/21/2024))
- Rosalind G Brewer (Interim President/Chair Emerita)
Highest reported compensation
- Helene Gayle (President (thru 11/21/2024)): $2,028,496 total reported compensation
- Dawn Alston (CFO and SVP of Business and Financial Affairs): $384,937 total reported compensation
- Pamela Scott-Johnson (Provost & VP Academic Affairs): $368,600 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Spelman empowers women to engage the many cultures of the world and inspires a commitment to positive social change through service. We are dedicated to academic excellence in the liberal arts and sciences and the intellectual, creative, ethical and leadership development of our students. Spelman College provides this web site to support its mission and to be of service to students, parents, faculty, staff, alumni, friends, supporters, and the public. Use of this web site for any purposes other than that for which it is intended is unauthorized and prohibited. Links to third-party sites This site may contain links to sites owned or operated by parties other Spelman College. Such links are provided for your reference only. Spelman College does not control outside sites and is not responsible for their content. Spelman College's inclusion of links to an outside site does not imply any...
What it reported doing in 2024
Instruction, student services, and academic support founded in 1881, spelman college is a private, nonprofit institution of higher education based in atlanta, Georgia. The college is accredited by the commission on colleges of the southern association of colleges and schools and provides quality liberal arts education and training services for approximately 2,500 undergraduate students. In addition, the college maintains special programs such as continuing education, summer science and dual degrees in engineering. Spelman college also provides a dynamic and interactive campus community with a variety of diverse programs and services designed to enhance the personal growth and development of its students. Academic support services includes departments that provide tutoring and academic support programs. Academic support services also partners with the student success program, which provides course support for students to master course content and ultimately attain their academic goals.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 68% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 79% for direct work, and 21% for grants.
- 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: 76
- Transparency & Controls: 73
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 44
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 85.6%; rating input score 86
- Program expense ratio: 78.1%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- 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: Fail
- May require repayment: Fail
- Grant itemization coverage: 97%; rating input score 97; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 96.3%; rating input score 96; 51st 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: -7.1%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.53; rating input score 86; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.06; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.4% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 85.6% of revenue deployed · 78.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 26 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $145.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $2M · 58 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $52.8M reported
- Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 14 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: 34 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 15 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight: 7 of 8 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 10/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.