Open University: $584.9M Revenue, $418.1M Program Expenses

On the LakeQuality nonprofit efficiency rubric, Open University pulls an A — the highest available grade. The 82/100 composite reflects a combination of program-focused spending, controlled overhead, and the kind of multi-year financial discipline that grant-makers look for.

Open University is a large nonprofit by U.S. standards: $584.9M in 2020 revenue against $536.0M in expenses. Organizations in this revenue bracket usually run multiple programs with permanent staff and a meaningful endowment or reserve. Program-spending efficiency is strong: 80% of total expenses flow to program activities, above the 75% benchmark most third-party charity raters use.

Five-year revenue trend is mildly negative: a modest decline that could reflect grant-cycle timing, donor turnover, or program wind-down. Worth checking against the program-spending pattern to see whether the decline is structural. CEO compensation is reported as zero in the filing — typical for nonprofits where the chief executive is paid through a related entity (parent system, university, or foundation) rather than the filing organization itself, or for small organizations whose chief is a volunteer or board member. In the Education category, Open University sits alongside universities, K-12 systems, scholarship funds, and education-research organizations. Education-sector nonprofits often hold large endowments, which affects how the reserves-and-revenue ratios should be read.