The Lawrenceville School

Legal name: Trustees of the Lawrenceville School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
210634503
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Lawrenceville, NJ, USA
Phone
6098960400
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Secondary, High School

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$120,051,953
Expenses
$116,665,869
Assets
$1,217,699,033
Liabilities
$105,394,554

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

Leadership & pay

39 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • WEISS JONATHAN G (PRESIDENT (UNTIL 06/25))
  • MELLET CELESTE M (VICE-PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MURRAY STEPHEN S (HEAD OF SCHOOL/ASST. SECRE): $1,607,361 total reported compensation
  • SCOTT MARQUIS (ASST. HEAD OF SCHOOL FOR STRAT. INIT.): $712,325 total reported compensation
  • HAMMOND BENJAMIN C (CFAO/SECRETARY/TREASURER): $631,044 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Lawrenceville challenges a diverse community of promising young people to lead lives of learning, integrity, and high purpose. Our mission is to inspire the best in each to seek the best for all.

What it reported doing in 2024

Student services: in 1936, educational philanthropist edward s. Harkness helped lawrenceville reconfigure the school's classrooms around oval 'harkness' tables that replaced lecture and memorization with shared inquiry and discovery. By connecting the rigorous intellectual culture around the harkness table to outstanding experiential and extracurricular opportunities spanning academic, athletic, artistic, cultural, scientific, service, and social endeavors, lawrenceville deepens understanding, reinforces self-confidence, spawns creativity, and fosters initiative and leadership. We empower students to learn and think for themselves, and to subject preliminary understanding to critical review. Lawrenceville encourages students to put in the work, pursue their passions, and develop their talents, inspiring the best in each to seek the best for all.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 61% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 82% 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.
  • 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. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 75
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 98
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 84.6%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 76.3%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd 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: Scored; rating input score 0
  • 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: 96.4%; rating input score 96; 51st 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: 2.8%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.44; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 48th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 84.6% of revenue deployed · 76.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 28 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $89M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $1.6M · 39 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $24.6M reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 11 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: 15 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 3 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.
  • 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 47/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.