The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art
Legal name: The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science & Art
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 135562985
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- (212) 353-4100
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $115,338,356
- Expenses
- $144,808,616
- Assets
- $855,919,772
- Liabilities
- $345,962,502
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
39 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- LAURA SPARKS (PRESIDENT TILL 9/24)
Highest reported compensation
- LAURA SPARKS (PRESIDENT TILL 9/24): $636,901 total reported compensation
- DEMETRIUS EUDELL (VP-ACADEMIC AFFAIRS): $467,907 total reported compensation
- BARRY SHOOP (DEAN/PROF. OF ENGINEERING): $445,444 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 Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art is dedicated to providing a free, high-quality education in architecture, art, and engineering to all who are qualified, regardless of their financial means.
What it reported doing in 2024
Instruction: the cooper union for the advancement of science and art is among the united states' oldest and most distinguished higher education institutions. It is comprised of three professional schools: architecture, art, and engineering; and a faculty of humanities and social sciences. (continued on schedule o)the college admits undergraduates solely on merit and historically awarded full-tuition scholarships to all enrolled undergraduate students. Following a provisional reduction in 2014 of scholarships to 50% of tuition due to fiscal reasons, the college is now executing a board-approved plan to resume its practice of awarding full-tuition scholarships to all enrolled undergraduate students. The institution provides students close contact with a distinguished, creative faculty and fosters rigorous, humanistic learning that is enhanced by the process of design and augmented by the urban setting. Enrollment for the 2024-2025 academic year was 849 undergraduate students and 78 graduate 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 69% for direct work, and 31% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 83
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 94
- Sustainability: 35
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 74%; rating input score 74
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.06 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- 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: Limited
- Conducts field audits: Limited
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Limited
- Conducts site visits: Limited
- Requires grant agreements: Limited
- May require repayment: Limited
- 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: 89.5%; rating input score 89; 37th 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: -25.6%; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.91; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.4; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.8%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.1% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 74% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 19 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $107.1M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $637K · 39 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $6.8M reported
- Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
- Schedules: 13 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: 17 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 44/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.