North Carolina · Nonprofit
JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,835,200 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($9,423,959). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $8.7M
- Funders on record
- 7
- Grants received
- $17M
- Net assets
- $8.4M
What John N Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education does
Mission
The john n. Gardner institute for excellence in higher education is a non-profit organization dedicated to partnering with colleges, universities, philanthropic organizations, educators, and other entities to increase institutional responsibility for improving outcomes associated with teaching, learning, retention, and completion. The institute supports postsecondary education's efforts to ensure that every learner earns a credential that leads to a meaningful career and a highly fulfilling life. Through its work, the institute will advance higher education's broader mission of expanding opportunity and success for all students.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Transformation support services - transforming the foundational improving student success outcomes in ways that help institutions transform in ways that help all students thrive, earn degrees or credentials of hihg value, and go on to lead productive and meaningful lives.
$4,204,769 spentof which $31,000 as grants$779,724 earned by the program75% of program spendingThe institute helps higher education and related organizations to individually and/or collectively define or redefine excellence in undergraduate education and assists with the application of these definitions to practice and/or policy. These actions support efforts to facilitate innovation in colleges, universities, and the broader systems of which they are a part. The ensuing dynamic educational opportunities will transform the institutions, the people they serve, the places in which they live and work, and the broader societies and economies of which they are a part.
$550,737 spent$219,647 earned by the program10% of program spendingWe held a number of conferences that drew in higher educators from institutions all over the united states.
$421,573 spent$233,836 earned by the program7% of program spendingAcademies and communities of practice: process and discipline-based communities to help faculty, graduate teaching assistants, and adjunct faculty create and implement a plan to apply and sustain the use of evidence-based pedagogies in their courses.the organization also offers academies and communities of practice that prepare institutional teams to conduct an evidence-based, education outcomes parity-focused student retention planning process for their institution with a goal of improving retention and using evidence to ensure that every learner can thrive and fulfil their educational objectives.
$342,429 spent$169,486 earned by the program6% of program spendingRetention: creating and implementing an analytics-based retention plan for specific cohorts such as first-year students, second-year students etc.
$32,513 spent$24,496 earned by the program1% of program spendingAcademic advising: in partnership with national academic advising association (nacada): the global community for academic advising, we provide a comprehensive, standards-based assessment process to promote excellence in academic advising.
$16,688 spent0% of program spendingCourse/curriculum redesign: positively transformed teaching, learning and reducing failure rates in lower division and/or developmental education "gateway" courses through working directly with faculty and staff.
$57,426 spent$283,288 earned by the program1% of program spending
The 7 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $5,626,135.
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 2022 to 2023, from $5.5M to $11M (+107%).
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: 2020 3%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
78% of JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (48% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 3 of the last 9 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.
Chief executive
Andrew Koch
CEO
Board chair
John Gardner
Executive chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2020 and FY2021 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 1 funder to 3 funders, grant income rose $150k → $4.1M.
1 of 7 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 0% 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 JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION’s funders (the co-funder graph). 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
JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION leans on a few funders — its largest provides 56% of grant income and the top three 84%; half comes from just 1 funder.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left
32% 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 JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 100% · 2018 100% · 2019 50% · 2020 32% · 2021 71% · 2022 34% · 2023 76% — 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.
Where its funders are
JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION draws 100% of its grant income from funders outside North Carolina, across 6 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $8k arriving through sponsors registered in 1 state 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
JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION runs a healthier operating margin than three-quarters of the 9,398 education nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 9,398 education nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2025
Organizations like JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION
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 North Carolina
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
93% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
27%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION: 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 JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION?
- JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION (North Carolina) receives grants from 7 organizations whose IRS filings report $16,835,200 to it, the largest being GATES FOUNDATION ($9,423,959). 5 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION have?
- IRS filings report 7 organizations giving $16,835,200 in grants to JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION, 5 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION?
- GATES FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $9,423,959 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like JOHN N GARDNER INSTITUTE FOR EXCELLENCE IN HIGHER EDUCATION find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in North Carolina. 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 John N Gardner Institute for Excellence in Higher Education →
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 7 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 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing