Vanderbilt Student Communications Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 237030713
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Nashville, TN, USA
- Phone
- 6153226610
- Rating
- 62
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $857,750
- Expenses
- $778,800
- Assets
- $5,160,967
- Liabilities
- $238,638
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
11 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- Lauren Kysar (Director): $180,973 total reported compensation
- Joe Rando (Vice Chair): $144,899 total reported compensation
- Chris Carroll (Director of Student Media): $143,255 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
See Schedule O
What it reported doing in 2024
Education - Vanderbilt Student Communications, Inc. offers students opportunities to learn and practice all facets of media content production and distribution via 16 internal organizations including a newspaper, radio stations, video production facility, music recording studio, yearbook, various online media as well as regularly structured workshops and projects.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Other-operating. 74% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 75
- Accountability: 45
- Sustainability: 61
- Growth: 20
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 66.8%; rating input score 67
- Program expense ratio: 72.1%; rating input score 72
- Fundraising efficiency: $15.04 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 76th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 14.3%; rating input score 14; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Limited
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 9.2%; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.63; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 53; 53rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 26.3%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -2.6% per year; rating input score 0; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -4.7% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 66.8% of revenue deployed · 72.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 1 of 7 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $561K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $181K · 11 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- Related organizations: 26 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.
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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 14/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 50/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 53/100.
- Review — Grant Readiness: SAM / OFAC restrictions: this organization returned a name match close enough to need a human check before a grant is released.