Texas Lutheran University

Overview

Mission

As a community of faith and learning, Texas Lutheran University empowers a diverse student body through an education centered on the liberal arts and professional programs. In pursuit of a more just world, TLU is committed to academic excellence, servant leadership, and career development. Community:** In service to our students, we are committed to providing a supportive and inclusive environment that emphasizes the respect of all of its members. Through our leadership and service, we seek to support justice and promote the common good. Faith:** In service to our students we are committed to operating at the intersection of faith and learning, which invites exploration and discovery through spiritual and educational growth, creating bold leaders who pursue lives of purpose and meaning. Our mission and values lead us to a vision for the future.

Operating model

Revenue model

Earned-program. 84% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.

Distribution model

Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 58% for direct work, and 42% 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: 83
• Transparency & Controls: 76
• Accountability: 95
• Sustainability: 39
• Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Details

• What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site
• Where the money goes: 93.1% of revenue deployed · 84.3% of spending went to programs
• Governance: 31 of 31 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
• Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $61.4M in reported program spending
• Leadership: top reported pay $299K · 46 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
• Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.8M reported
• Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
• Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
• Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
• Contacts: How to reach this organization
• Money network: 15 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.

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 scored 0/100.
• Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
• High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 14/100.
• Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
• Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 38/100.
• High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.