Turtle Mountain College

Legal name: Turtle Mountain Community College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
450323401
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Belcourt, ND, US
Phone
(701) 477-7862
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Undergraduate College (4-year)

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$25,822,978
Expenses
$25,423,580
Assets
$77,382,132
Liabilities
$8,961,379

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

Leadership & pay

23 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SYDNEE BRUCE (STUDENT PRESIDENT)
  • JAYLEE JAY (STUDENT PRESIDENT)
  • DONNA BROWN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DONNA BROWN (PRESIDENT): $179,371 total reported compensation
  • TYLER PARISIEN (FACULTY MEMBER): $156,984 total reported compensation
  • CHAD DAVIS (IT DIRECTOR): $151,064 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Turtle Mountain Community College provides accessible, quality higher education grounded in Anishinaabe culture and values, empowering students to achieve academic and career success while serving the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and surrounding communities.

What it reported doing in 2024

Tmcc is a tribally controlled community college. Tmcc offers a bachelor degree in elementary education and secondary science teacher education. Tmcc offers associates of arts and associates of sciences degrees. In the career and technical education area, the college offers 9 month certficates and 18 associate of applied science degrees. Tmcc serves the turtle mountain indian reservation and the surrounding communities. Approximately 98% of the student population are turtle mountain chippewa indians. The college is a charter member of the american indian higher education consortium (aihec). Tmcc seeks to integrate the turtle mountain chippewa culture and heritage throughout the curriculum.

Operating model

Revenue model
Grant-funded. 83% of the money available for current operations came from government grants.
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.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 74
  • Transparency & Controls: 75
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 57
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 83.5%; rating input score 84
  • Program expense ratio: 82.1%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • 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: 1.5%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.04; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 3.1%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.6% per year; rating input score 100; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 11 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 83.5% of revenue deployed · 82.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $20.9M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $179K · 23 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 4 contractors listed · $1.9M reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 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: 16 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 40/100.