WVU Foundation
Legal name: West Virginia University Foundation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 556017181
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Morgantown, WV, US
- Phone
- 304-284-4083
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $152,277,981
- Expenses
- $144,767,225
- Assets
- $3,299,917,464
- Liabilities
- $1,938,339,401
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
42 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Cynthia L Roth (President & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Richard Kraich ret July 2025 (VP Investments, CIO): $1,057,409 total reported compensation
- Cynthia L Roth (President & CEO): $960,453 total reported compensation
- Bernard J Davisson II ret Dec 2024 (Sr. VP Development, CDO): $583,275 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of the WVU Foundation is to secure and steward private support for West Virginia University.
What it reported doing in 2024
The organization utilizes private funding to support students within multiple schools, colleges, and departments across campus; the most significant of which were the department of intercollegiate athletics, the eberly college of arts and sciences, the college of agriculture, natural resources and design, and the statler college of engineering and mineral resources. Scholarship amounts include tuition, books, and room and board. Scholarship amounts are utilized across campus to help recruit nationally prominent students as well as provide funding support to give other students the opportunity to pursue an academic career at the highest level.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 65% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 85% 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: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 81
- Accountability: 98
- Sustainability: 62
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.7%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 83.1%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.29 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 95.2%; rating input score 95; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 6 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Pass
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- Written employment contract: Pass
- 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: 96.7%; rating input score 97; 51st 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: 4.9%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 22.79; rating input score 98; 98th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.59; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 3.7%; rating input score 28; 28th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 5.5% per year; rating input score 100; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 6 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 89.7% of revenue deployed · 83.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 29 of 30 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $120.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1.1M · 42 people listed · 6 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.5M reported
- Consistency: 42 of 43 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- 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: 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.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 29/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 28/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.