No need for this with public documents

My tour of journalism books continues with William C. Gaines’s Investigative Journalism. Gaines is a more exciting writer than Ullman, the last author I read, and he wisely steers away from technology issues that will soon become outdated.

My favorite part of Investigative Journalism, though, is that it taught me about the 990 tax forms non-profits have to file. While journalists at public schools luxuriate in their open records requests, reporters at private schools don’t have many documents to go on if they want to see how their school operates.

Fortunately, many private schools are set up as non-profits and have to file 990s. They’re a great look into a school’s finances and find story leads.

Using Guidestar, a site that archives 990s, I found Georgetown’s forms. I’m chasing down some crazy things in them, but let’s see if I can pull the same trick at nearby Catholic University of America.

A search for “Catholic University of America” brings up a couple relevant organizations, including the Catholic University of America, the Catholic University of America Foundation, the Friends of the Catholic University of America Rowing Association, and the Concerned Alumni of Catholic University

While that last one sounds pretty interesting, the last two don’t have 990 forms. I’ll focus on the first one since it has the main university’s finances.

And it’s a gold mine! The most recent 990 provides me with a lot of things, including:

  • The university’s total budget, including overall expenditures and investment gains, losses, and dividends.
  • A list of the university’s highest paid non-board members (great for seeing which professors are worth more than you think, or finding a ghost payroller).
  • A list of major university’s biggest contracts. If it’s with a government agency, an open records request could be filed on it. Alas, that doesn’t happen on this form.
  • The amount the university spends on lobbying. While Catholic doesn’t spend anything on lobbying, Georgetown’s reported lobbying sent me to Open Secrets for more detailed lobbying disclosures.
  • A list of board members, paid and unpaid. This includes the salaries of the university’s highest-ranking employees, like President David O’Connell ($283,333).
  • A list of scholarships given out and how much money each one is worth.
  • Budget items for tax-exempt functions like the university press, and how much is spent on each.

So! Students at private universities have a little paper trail to follow after all.

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