Young Harris College

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
580593414
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Young Harris, GA, USA
Phone
(800) 241-3754
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Community or Junior Colleges

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$43,920,284
Expenses
$47,860,324
Assets
$198,753,231
Liabilities
$29,122,767

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

Leadership & pay

50 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DR DREW L VAN HORN (PRESIDENT)
  • JOHN WELLS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JOHN WELLS (PRESIDENT): $308,076 total reported compensation
  • DR DREW L VAN HORN (PRESIDENT): $257,035 total reported compensation
  • DR C TODD JONES (DEAN. PRO. STUD.): $158,093 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Young Harris College is a private, four-year liberal arts college rooted in the mountains and grounded in purpose, providing a transformative educational experience that fosters critical thinking, leadership, and lifelong learning.

What it reported doing in 2024

Student financial assistance - the college is committed to recruiting excellent students and helping secure the necessary and appropriate resources to meet the cost of an excellent education. The comprehensive student financial assistance program includes scholarships, grants, loans, and part-time campus employment. 100% of the students enrolled during 2024-2025 received some form of financial assistance.institutional support funds expended for central executive activities concerned with management and long-range planning for the entire college, fiscal operations and data processing, human resources and records, insurance and risk management, professional services, advertising, public relations, and development and fundraising initiatives including activities concerned with community and alumni relations.auxiliary services funds expended for meal services, textbooks, and the operation, repair and maintenance of the college's residence halls, campus center and dining hall, and recreation facility.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 80% 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 61% for direct work, and 39% 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: 87
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 46
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 90.9%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.94 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: -9%; rating input score 11; 11th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.15; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.15; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 2%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.3% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.3% per year; rating input score 100; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0% per year; rating input score 0; 10th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 90.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 45 of 45 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $43.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $308K · 50 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $4M reported
  • Consistency: 42 of 42 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 11 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: 5 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 2 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: 7 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 11/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 11/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.