Whitworth University
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 910473310
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Spokane, WA, USA
- Phone
- 509.777.1000
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- University or Technological Institute
- Affiliation
- Christianity
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $164,233,665
- Expenses
- $150,881,223
- Assets
- $381,432,792
- Liabilities
- $102,581,048
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
46 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- SCOTT MCQUILKIN (TRUSTEE & PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- SCOTT MCQUILKIN (TRUSTEE & PRESIDENT): $418,111 total reported compensation
- GREGOR THUSWALDNER (PROFESSOR OF MODERN LANGUAGES): $238,794 total reported compensation
- TIMOTHY WILKINSON (DEAN, SCHOOL OF BUSINESS): $217,056 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Whitworth University is a private Christian liberal arts university located in Spokane, Washington.
What it reported doing in 2024
Education: whitworth university's enrollment (fall 2025): undergraduate: 2,046 graduate: 373. Six-year graduation rate (2024-25): 66.7 percent of first-time, full-time students enrolled in fall 2019 graduated within six years. Freshman-to-sophomore retention rate (2024-25): 83.6 percent. The university undergraduate student body has a composition of 64%/36% white/non-white; 56%/44% female/male and representation of 37 foreign nations. The university offers more than 100 undergraduate, 30 graduate degree programs, and 2 doctorate programs; the most prominent undergraduate degrees are business/economics, health science, education, psychology, biology, and math and computer science. Fiscal year 2024-25 is also the 24th consecutive year that whitworth university has been in the top rankings of u.s. News and world report.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 82% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 46% for direct work, and 54% 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: 67
- Transparency & Controls: 81
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 66
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 69.9%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 78.1%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th 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: Yes; rating input score 100
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 93.3%; rating input score 93; 44th 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: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 8.1%; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.53; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.3% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 69.9% of revenue deployed · 78.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 28 of 30 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $117.8M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $418K · 46 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $17.1M reported
- Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
- Schedules: 14 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: 12 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.
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 15/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.