New York · Nonprofit
HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY
HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY (New York) receives grants from 90 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,888,407 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($4,850,960). 52 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2025
- $51M
- Funders on record
- 90
- Grants received
- $13M
- Net assets
- $119M
What Houghton University does
Mission
Houghton University provides an academically challenging, christ-centered education in the liberal arts and sciences to students from diverse traditions and economic backgrounds and equips them to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Instruction: Houghton University provides academically challenging, christ-centered education in the liberal arts and sciences through an orthodox christian worldview. A houghton education is deeply rooted in the wesleyan theological tradition and is available to students through both residential and online platform. Our rural, residential campus focuses on learning within an intentional christ-centered community, offering over 70 majors to approximately 900 traditional undergraduate students, equipping them with degrees in the liberal arts, natural sciences and pre-professional programs. Experiential learning both in and out of the classroom is a hallmark of a houghton education, and uniquely prepares our students to lead and labor as scholar-servants in a changing world. Our online education provides the same academically challenging education through an orthodox christian worldview to a student body of diverse learners including adults, professionals, traditional college students, and pre-college dual-enrolled students.
$13,471,615 spentof which $4,208,288 as grants$14,504,842 earned by the program42% of program spendingAuxilary enterprises: Houghton University's auxiliary enterprises are primarily composed of student housing, dining services and the highlanders shop campus store. As a rural, residential campus, these components become a vital part of a student's experience, providing opportunity for social and emotional growth and feeding into the vitally important task of developing christian young men and women. As students live and learn together, the growth which takes place in student housing and the dining hall is often a significant factor in the world-changing, kingdom impact our alumni will have after graduation.
$7,186,721 spent$9,196,301 earned by the program23% of program spendingStudent services: at Houghton University, education is not confined to the classroom. Student life, including approximately 35 unique student clubs, a weekly rhythm of spiritual development, and student leadership development, provides both social and professional learning opportunities for houghton students. As an ncaa diii school, highlander athletics sponsors 15 sports teams and serves approximately one-third of the student body, offering life-long wellness skills and intensive christian leadership development. Other student services include wrap-around care supporting student's mental and physical wellbeing, academic supports, and internship and career services.
$9,228,510 spent29% of program spendingOther program expenses include grants to students, as well as departmental projects and student loans.
$2,010,779 spent$633,626 earned by the program6% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $31,897,625.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2020 to 2021, from $116M to $137M (+17%).
How it's funded, over time
Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.
Government-grant reliance: 2017 1% · 2018 1% · 2020 3% · 2021 10% · 2022 9% · 2023 13% · 2024 1% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
42% of HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 8 reported years ran a deficit.
reserve
Leadership and staff
The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.
Board chair
Rev Dr Joseph Jennings
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 18 funders to 40 funders, grant income fell $2.3M → $1.1M.
22 of 90 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 81% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 90 funders by total. Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How concentrated its funding is
HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY leans on a few funders — its largest provides 38% of grant income and the top three 67%; half comes from just 2 funders.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 2 funders to its left
84% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 86% · 2018 59% · 2019 31% · 2020 26% · 2021 39% · 2022 30% · 2023 30% — diversifying over time.
“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
How long its funders stay
45% of HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
81% of HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $2.5M that is directly attributable, 62% of it comes from funders outside New York, across 18 states.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $10M arriving through sponsors registered in 14 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.
Against its field
HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 3,794 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,794 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $6.5M on record.
- Department of Education$6.5M
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY
Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.
In New York
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
85% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Footprint & structure
Part of a family of 3 related entities
- Willard J Houghton Foundation · exempt
- The Wesleyan Investment Fund Inc · exempt
- The Wesleyan Church Corporation · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.
Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf
Questions and answers
- Who funds HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY?
- HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY (New York) receives grants from 90 organizations whose IRS filings report $12,888,407 to it, the largest being NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC ($4,850,960). 52 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 81% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 90 organizations giving $12,888,407 in grants to HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY, 52 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY?
- NATL CHRISTIAN CHARITABLE FDN INC is the largest funder on record, with $4,850,960 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HOUGHTON UNIVERSITY find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in New York. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.
Play a game about who funds Houghton University →
These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 90 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing