Wilkes University

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
240795506
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Wilkes-Barre, PA, US
Phone
(570) 408-4400
Rating
81
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Single Organization Support

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$163,934,833
Expenses
$160,785,944
Assets
$252,088,643
Liabilities
$93,347,412

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

Leadership & pay

42 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • GREG CANT (PRESIDENT)
  • DAVID WARD SENIOR VICE (PRESIDENT / PROVOST)
  • MICHAEL WOOD VICE PRESIDENT (SPECIAL ASST TO THE PRESIDENT)
  • MARK ALLEN ASSOCIATE VICE (PRESIDENT FOR STUDEN LIFE & SUCCESS)
  • JOSEPH HOUSENICK ASSOCIATE (VICE PRESIDENT/CHIEF OF HR)
  • JOHN MATLOCK ASSOCIATE VICE (PRESIDENT OF FINANCE (EXIT 10/24))

Highest reported compensation

  • GREG CANT (PRESIDENT): $504,088 total reported compensation
  • DAVID WARD SENIOR VICE (PRESIDENT / PROVOST): $332,118 total reported compensation
  • KEVIN BOYLE VICE PRESIDENT (OF ADVANCEMENT): $307,009 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

Instruction - includes all expenditures for activities that are part of the institution's instructional programs. This includes credit and non credit courses, academic, vocational and technical instruction. The university offers 50 undergraduate majors, 15 graduate degree programs and several pre-professional and certificate programs. Enrollment includes 1,896 full-time undergraduate students from 31 states and 19 foreign countries. Class sizes are kept small to enable greater access to professors and more individualized attention in the classroom. Undergraduate freshmen class sizes average 19 students with 14 students for upper level classes. (continued on schedule o) wilkes is dedicated to being a leader in higher education throughout the northeastern united states and is dedicated to academic excellence through mentoring. This also includes expenditures for general, need based, and endowment scholarships and fellowships from restricted or unrestricted current funds in the form of grants to students. At least 90% of students received some form of financial aid. Grants awarded include seog scholarships, wilkes need based grants and wilkes merit based scholarships.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 89% 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 67% for direct work, and 33% for grants.
  • 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: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 73
  • Accountability: 98
  • Sustainability: 47
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.7%; rating input score 86
  • Program expense ratio: 88.2%; rating input score 88
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.1 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • 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; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 96.3%; rating input score 96; 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: 1.9%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.57; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2.3%; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.9% per year; rating input score 100; 30th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.4% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 85.7% of revenue deployed · 88.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $141.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $504K · 42 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $19.1M reported
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 13 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: 15 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.
  • 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.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 42/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 55/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 50/100.