St John's College
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 520591421
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Annapolis, MD, USA
- Phone
- 4102632371
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $118,931,795
- Expenses
- $87,753,936
- Assets
- $508,831,924
- Liabilities
- $50,782,860
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
48 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- J WALTER STERLING (PRESIDENT - SANTA FE)
- NORA DEMLEITNER (PRESIDENT - ANNAPOLIS UNTIL 05/25)
- SUSAN PAALMAN DEAN AN UNTIL (06/25, INT. PRESIDENT - ANNAPOLIS)
- MARK ROOSEVELT (FORMER PRESIDENT - SANTA FE)
Highest reported compensation
- NORA DEMLEITNER (PRESIDENT - ANNAPOLIS UNTIL 05/25): $484,371 total reported compensation
- MARK ROOSEVELT (FORMER PRESIDENT - SANTA FE): $467,517 total reported compensation
- J WALTER STERLING (PRESIDENT - SANTA FE): $243,878 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
St. John's distinctive liberal arts curriculum and educational practices have long given it a highly respected place among american colleges and universities. Its strong commitment to collaborative inquiry and to the study of original texts makes st. John's college a particularly vibrant community of learning. Through close engagement with the works of some of the world's greatest writers and thinkers, undergraduate and graduate students at st. John's college grapple with fundamental questions that confront us as human beings.
What it reported doing in 2024
Graduate & undergraduate course of study for approximately 1,000 students.
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 67% for direct work, and 33% 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: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 81
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 82.9%; rating input score 83
- Program expense ratio: 78.9%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.18 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd 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: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 91.4%; rating input score 91; 40th 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: 26.2%; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.8; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 82.9% of revenue deployed · 78.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 32 of 35 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $69.2M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $484K · 48 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $33.1M reported
- Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
- Schedules: 13 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 15 filed money-flow records
- 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 22/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.