Thiel College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
250965576
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-N 2008
Location
Greenville, PA, US
Phone
1-800-248-4435
Rating
86
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Undergraduate College (4-year)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$62,529,246
Expenses
$54,537,535
Assets
$113,353,768
Liabilities
$40,304,564

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

Leadership & pay

59 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR SUSAN TRAVERSO (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR SUSAN TRAVERSO (PRESIDENT): $304,740 total reported compensation
  • JAMES TKACIK (PROGRAM DIRECTOR PHYSICIAN STUDIES): $187,952 total reported compensation
  • AMY ARBOGAST (VP FINANCE & ADMINISTRATION): $177,876 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Thiel College is a private liberal arts college in Greenville, Pennsylvania, offering undergraduate and graduate degrees. With a 12:1 student-to-faculty ratio and small class sizes, it emphasizes personalized learning and mentorship. The college provides over 100 clubs, teams, and organizations, and reports that 95% of graduates are employed or in graduate school within a year. Thiel recently expanded its health sciences offerings with a new nutrition major and a Master of Science in nutrition and dietetics.

What it reported doing in 2024

Founded in 1866 as a coeducational institution in western Pennsylvania, thiel college is an independent liberal arts college rooted in the lutheran tradition. Offering distinctive programs in the arts and humanities, social and natural sciences, and professional studies, together with engaging co-curricular and athletic opportunities, thiel provides an accessible and inclusive learning environment that emphasizes service to society. Thiel's residential campus offers a safe and supportive setting in which to grow and learn.continued on schedule o.thiel college is an independent liberal arts, sciences and professional studies institution committed to providing quality undergraduate and graduate education and is accredited by the middle states commission of higher education.thiel's fall enrollment was 790 undergraduate students and 117 graduate students in three (slp, pa, mba) graduate programs; spring enrollment was 693 undergraduate and 114 graduate students. The college awarded more than $23 million dollars of aid to these students.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 74% 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 55% for direct work, and 45% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 84
  • Transparency & Controls: 83
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 65
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.3%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 93.4%; rating input score 93
  • Fundraising efficiency: $22.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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; 77th 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; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 12.8%; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.08; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.36; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.3%; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.8% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 83.3% of revenue deployed · 93.4% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 34 of 34 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $50.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $305K · 59 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $5.8M reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 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: 12 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.
  • 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.

Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 33/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.