The Council on Undergraduate Research

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
411398118
IRS 990 coverage
2012–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Gaithersburg, MD, USA
Phone
2027834810
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,806,206
Expenses
$2,791,373
Assets
$5,265,770
Liabilities
$918,485

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

Leadership & pay

19 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JAMES T LAPLANT (PRESIDENT)
  • KAREN K RESENDES (PRESIDENT-ELECT)
  • MARIA IACULLO-BIRD (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • LINDSAY CURRIE (EX OFFICIO - EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $252,620 total reported compensation
  • HEATHER WAKEFIELD (SENIOR DIRECTOR, COMMUNITY+LEARNING): $139,085 total reported compensation
  • WINNY DONG (DIRECTOR): $2,500 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Cur works to support and promote high-quality mentored undergraduate research. Cur offers programs and resources to share successful models and strategies for establishing and nurturing undergraduate research, while providing community support to ensure success.

What it reported doing in 2024

Membership services - cur is a community of more than 14,000 individual members and just over 525 institutional members from around the world who share a passion for undergraduate research. Cur membership is designed to assist faculty, administrators, researchers, staff, mentors, and students in their efforts to develop, enhance, sustain, and support undergraduate research on their campuses and beyond. Cur members receive access to exclusive resources and content such as: an online member community and job board, professional development opportunities, networking and mentoring opportunities, member resource library, assessment and advocacy toolkits, cur's quarterly scholarly journal - scholarship and practice of undergraduate research (spur), newsletters and more.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 93% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 72
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 78.9%; rating input score 79
  • Program expense ratio: 83.7%; rating input score 84
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 92.9%; rating input score 93; 13th 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: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 81.1%; rating input score 81; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: NotApplicable
    • 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: 0.5%; rating input score 36; 36th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.89; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 14.2%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.9% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 78.9% of revenue deployed · 83.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 13 of 13 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $2.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $253K · 19 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $451K reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 34 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2012 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 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.

  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 36/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 47/100.