The Rams Club

Legal name: The Educational Foundation Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
566058412
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chapel Hill, NC, USA
Phone
(919) 843-2000
Rating
84
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$99,241,416
Expenses
$66,441,509
Assets
$251,317,086
Liabilities
$98,570,383

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

Leadership & pay

36 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JOHN MONTGOMERY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN MONTGOMERY (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $590,661 total reported compensation
  • KEN MACK (SR ASSOC EXEC DIR LEAD GIFTS): $309,495 total reported compensation
  • DIANE ALDRIDGE (CFO & GENERAL COUNSEL): $298,316 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 Rams Club is an organization made up of Tar Heels who believe in the importance of providing educational and athletic opportunities for Carolina student-athletes through a great student-athlete experience at Carolina.

What it reported doing in 2024

Conversion of playing surface in kenan stadium from turf to natural grass. Renovations to the kenan football center, finley golf course, chewning tennis complex, and the women's basketball locker room and office area. Renovations to woollen gym to create a practice facility for women's basketball. Planning costs for new golf team building. Updates to the softball stadium and finley clubhouse. Renovations to boshamer stadium. Renovations to restrooms and ada improvements in the smith center. Repair smith center roof. Improvements to locker room in koury natatorium.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 60% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 82% of its reported program spending out as 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 90
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 76
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 63.1%; rating input score 63
  • Program expense ratio: 87.4%; rating input score 87
  • Fundraising efficiency: $20.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 33rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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: 33.1%; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.78; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.39; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 4.3%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5.8% per year; rating input score 100; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 5 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 63.1% of revenue deployed · 87.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 25 of 25 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $58.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $591K · 36 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $10.8M reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 12 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.

  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 46/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule G fundraiser detail did not reconcile in the filed values.