The Central Scholarship Bureau Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
526012589
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2021
Location
Owings Mills, MD, USA
Phone
4104155558
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,016,206
Expenses
$1,870,093
Assets
$13,790,979
Liabilities
$234,083

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

Leadership & pay

17 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • TIERRA A DORSEY (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • TIERRA A DORSEY (PRESIDENT): $171,358 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The central scholarship bureau, inc. (organization) is a Maryland non-stock not-for-profit organization that helps marylanders fulfill their dreams of pursuing higher education by making higher education more affordable. (continued in schedule o)the organization awards need-based scholarships and interest-free loans to high-performing students throughout Maryland, offers college cash financial education seminars to students and parents to help them become more informed higher education consumers and advocates for legislation that makes higher education more affordable for all marylanders.

What it reported doing in 2024

Central scholarship (cs) provides need-based scholarships for high-performing students pursuing undergraduate, graduate and professional degrees. For most programs, students are eligible for up to $11,000 per year in assistance for post-secondary education. During the fiscal year ended june 30, 2025, cs processed nearly 2,570 applications and awarded 146 scholarships to students.cs provides grants for degree and career training certificate programs, and cs provides the opportunity for students receiving funding for degree programs with emergency grants for non-education expenses. Examples of such expenses include medical bills, transportation emergencies, or replacement of essential belongings after theft or fire. During the fiscal year ending on june 30, 2025, cs made emergency grants to 3 students totaling $1,575. Career-training scholarships are available for fields where there is a verified workforce demand, an opportunity to earn a living wage, recognized credentials upon program completion and a path for career advancement. Students are qualified based on financial need, with preference given to baltimore city residents. During the fiscal year ending on june 30, 2025, cs awarded career-training scholarships to 13 students. In order to cover the operating services for scholarship administration, central scholarship charges a small percentage to manage the 80 scholarships in our portfolio.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 83% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 54% for direct work, and 46% for grants.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 80.7%; rating input score 81
  • Program expense ratio: 73.9%; rating input score 74
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: No; rating input score 0

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 7.2%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.37; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 9.2%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.8% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 80.7% of revenue deployed · 73.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 11 of 12 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $1.4M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $171K · 17 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 34 of 36 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • 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.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Related-party transparency scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.