Trinity Christian College

Legal name: Trinity Christian College Association

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN: 362387148
IRS 990 coverage: 2009–2024
Official website data refreshed: Sep 2026
Forms available: Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location: Palos Heights, IL, United States
Phone: 708.239.4770
Rating: 82
Verdict: STRONG
Rating confidence: Moderate
Sector: Undergraduate College (4-year)
Affiliation: Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue: $33,174,195
Expenses: $38,132,237
Assets: $45,765,594
Liabilities: $26,387,068

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

Leadership & pay

15 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

AARON J KUECKER (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

AARON J KUECKER (PRESIDENT): $282,013 total reported compensation
JEANINE MOZIE (CHIEF OF STAFF): $139,741 total reported compensation
PAUL BOICE (VP OF OPERATIONS): $133,280 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Trinity offers an outstanding education, concerned about the whole person—for good, for God, and for the world. The educational work of Trinity Christian College is guided by three key documents, including its Mission: to provide biblically informed liberal arts education in the Reformed tradition. In keeping with a philosophy of education that is based on these principles, all members of the academic community — faculty, staff, and students — endeavor to provide an educational environment of Christian integrity and love that enhances and supports the entire learning experience. We seek committed Christian faculty members who strive to grow continuously in their faith and Christian perspective on learning, who demonstrate effective teaching skills, who commit themselves to foster the total development of students as individuals, and who practice scholarship as a contribution to the...

What it reported doing in 2024

Traditional undergraduate, adult studies and graduate programs: trinity offers classroom instruction, field experience and internships, service-learning, and other activities to provide a four-year, liberal arts education in 70+ programs of study, including, art, business, communications, education, mathematics, nursing, theology, and science. Several pre-professional programs are also offered, including pre-law and pre-med. Trinity offers both domestic and international off campus programs. Trinity's proximity to downtown chicago provides access to internships, cultural experiences, and career and service opportunities. The chicago semester program enables students to gain real-world experience through living and working in the city for an entire semester. Students gain hands-on learning through the global opportunities to study abroad for a semester in countries worldwide. Trinity's adult studies program is a non traditional program serving adults age 23 and older and offering accelerated degree completion programs in business and education as well as certification and endorsement programs. Graduate studies offers master's degrees in select programs. Audio-visual AIDS to instruction, library services for students and for research, computer services for students, and the academic dean's office that develops curriculums and maintains academic excellence for a campus of around 1,200.

Operating model

Revenue model: Other-operating. 78% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model: Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 72% for direct work, and 28% for grants.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

Financial Efficiency: 88
Transparency & Controls: 73
Accountability: 100
Sustainability: 27
Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
Program expense ratio: 88.9%; rating input score 89
Fundraising efficiency: $6.16 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 66th 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: -14.9%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.2; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.58; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Officer compensation ratio: 2.4%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

Program expense growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Asset growth: -1.2% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Details

What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 88.9% of spending went to programs
Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $33.9M in reported program spending
Leadership: top reported pay $282K · 15 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $1.7M reported
Consistency: 47 of 47 current checks pass
Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
Contacts: How to reach this organization
Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
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.

High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 24/100.
High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.