Wilberforce University Wilberforce University
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 310604719
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Wilberforce, OH, USA
- Phone
- 3177143519
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Undergraduate College (4-year)
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $23,079,487
- Expenses
- $22,498,542
- Assets
- $31,792,463
- Liabilities
- $18,749,044
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DR VANN R NEWKIRK (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- DR VANN R NEWKIRK (PRESIDENT): $262,000 total reported compensation
- AMANI LEWIS (CFO): $62,039 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Wilberforce university is a historically black college and university and the primary mission is to engage, support, and assist students in identifying and preparing for their respective purposes in life as social change agents, social justice activists, entrepreneurs, thought-leaders and global citizens by imparting knowledge through rigorous intellectual inquiry and critical thinking. The mission is most effectively accomplished by instilling pride, discipline and inspiring life-long learning, personal and spiritual development and the practical application of the knowledge obtained, and the skills developed.
What it reported doing in 2024
The univesity provides post secondary education to minority students from various parts of the uninted states.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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. Expenses are high relative to revenue and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 47
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.5%; rating input score 72
- Program expense ratio: 72.7%; rating input score 73
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- 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: 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 2.5%; rating input score 44; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.41; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.59; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.4%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.2% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 2.7% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -1.4% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 71.5% of revenue deployed · 72.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $16.4M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $262K · 19 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 44/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 49/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 23/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Federal audit findings: this organization reported findings in its latest federal Single Audit.