Wheaton College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
362182171
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Wheaton, IL, USA
Phone
630.752.5000
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Undergraduate College (4-year)
Affiliation
Christianity

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$249,246,344
Expenses
$197,785,333
Assets
$1,183,288,122
Liabilities
$179,827,524

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

Leadership & pay

34 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Philip G Ryken (President/Trustee)

Highest reported compensation

  • Philip G Ryken (President/Trustee): $595,698 total reported compensation
  • J Chadwick Rynbrandt (VP for Finance & Operations, Treasurer): $322,303 total reported compensation
  • Kirk D Farney (VP for Advancement & Alumni Relations): $290,616 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Wheaton College exists to serve the Lord Jesus Christ and advance His Kingdom through excellence in liberal arts and graduate programs that integrate faith, learning, and living.

What it reported doing in 2024

Artist series, the community school of the arts and summer sports camps. Minor programs, application fees, tuition installment plan fees, parking fines, parking permits and library fines. The college solicits a variety of contributions for its programs including donor-advised funds. Donor-advised fund contributions received are accounted for as other investments. Donor-advised funds allow for the donor to recommend distributions to college programs or other charitable organizations. Although the college generally complies with the donor's recommendation, they are subject to approval by the college's charity selection committee. The college's policy is to distribute a maximum of 75% - 90% of donor-advised fund contributions to unrelated third parties.

Operating model

Revenue model
Other-operating. 68% of the money available for current operations came from other operating revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 64% for direct work, and 36% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - 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: 71
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 92
  • Sustainability: 82
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 74.8%; rating input score 75
  • Program expense ratio: 77%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.75 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 30; 30th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Pass
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Fail
    • Conducts field audits: Fail
    • May suspend future funding: Fail
    • Requires financial reports: Fail
    • Conducts site visits: Fail
    • Requires grant agreements: Fail
    • May require repayment: Fail
  • Grant itemization coverage: 49.9%; rating input score 50; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 47th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • 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: 20.6%; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.98; rating input score 87; 87th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 75; 75th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 2.2% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 74.8% of revenue deployed · 77% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $152.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $596K · 34 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $17.1M reported
  • Consistency: 44 of 45 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 35 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 21 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: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 30/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 50/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Document-retention policy not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 56/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.