How to Find and Read Notre Dame’s Form 990: Revenue, Pay, and Endowment Tax

Notre Dame’s Form 990 is available free from two public databases: the IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search at apps.irs.gov/app/eos and ProPublica’s Nonprofit Explorer.¹² Search by the university’s Employer Identification Number, 35-0868188, rather than by name, since several affiliated entities share the Notre Dame name.³ The legal filer is University of Notre Dame du Lac, a 501(c)(3) institution.⁴

Each return runs 80 or more pages. The IRS site gives you the original PDF; ProPublica adds summary tables that pull the headline figures out of the document so you can scan them without opening the full file. Both let you filter by tax period.

Timing: When New Filings Appear

Notre Dame’s fiscal year runs July 1 through June 30.⁵ A return labeled “June 2024” covers July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024. The form is due November 15, and an automatic six-month extension pushes that to May 15 of the following year.⁶ Large universities routinely file on extension, so the most recent completed fiscal year’s return often doesn’t appear on public databases until more than a year after the period closed.

What’s in the Public Copy — and What’s Redacted

Tax-exempt organizations must make their annual returns publicly available for at least three years from the due date or actual filing date, whichever is later.⁷ The public version carries all schedules and attachments with one exception: on Schedule B, the names and addresses of individual donors are redacted. The dollar amounts and descriptions of contributions remain visible; the identities behind them do not.⁸

The header on page one reads “Open to Public Inspection,” which confirms you’re looking at the disclosable version.

Revenue: Reading Part VIII

Part VIII, the Statement of Revenue, shows where the money comes from. For the fiscal year ending June 2024, Notre Dame reported roughly $3.32 billion in total revenue.² The major lines break down as follows:

Program service revenue — tuition, room and board, and fees — generated about $1.25 billion, the single largest source.
Sales of assets, driven mostly by endowment rebalancing, added roughly $967 million.
Contributions and grants brought in about $791 million.
Investment income (interest, dividends, and similar returns) accounted for approximately $223 million.

The investment and asset-sale lines shift substantially year to year based on market performance. Comparing several consecutive filings gives a steadier picture than any single year.

Expenses: Reading Part IX

Part IX, the Statement of Functional Expenses, sorts spending into three columns: program services, management and general, and fundraising. Program services cover direct educational costs such as faculty salaries, research support, and student services. Management and general covers administrative overhead like legal, accounting, and information technology. Fundraising isolates the cost of soliciting donations and maintaining alumni relationships.⁹

For the fiscal year ending June 2024, Notre Dame reported total expenses of approximately $2.17 billion, with salaries and wages alone exceeding $761 million.² Donors and watchdog groups typically look at the ratio of program service spending to total expenses. A high percentage suggests most resources are going toward the educational mission rather than administrative costs.

Scholarships and Student Aid: Schedule I

Schedule I reports awards to individuals. The IRS defines this category broadly to include scholarships, fellowships, research grants, awards, prizes, and stipends.¹⁰ Part III of the schedule lists each type of grant, the number of recipients, and the total distributed.

Ordinary employee salaries do not appear here, even when paid to student workers. The schedule focuses on aid and research support flowing to individuals as beneficiaries rather than as employees, which makes it the cleanest snapshot of how much Notre Dame distributes in direct student financial support.

Executive Compensation: Part VII and Schedule J

Part VII, Section A lists every current officer, director, and trustee along with up to 20 key employees and the five highest-compensated non-officer employees earning at least $100,000.¹¹ The compensation figure shown in Part VII is total reportable compensation from the W-2 or 1099, which means it already includes bonuses, severance, and other taxable payments on top of base salary.¹²

For the full picture, turn to Schedule J, which breaks each listed person’s pay into five columns:¹³

Base compensation: salary or fees agreed in advance.
Bonus and incentive compensation: performance-based payments and signing bonuses.
Other reportable compensation: severance, deferred amounts that vested during the year, and longevity awards.
Deferred compensation: annual contributions to retirement and other deferred plans.
Nontaxable benefits: employer-provided housing, health insurance, life insurance, dependent care, and similar tax-free benefits.

Schedule J also flags perks such as first-class travel and housing allowances. Notre Dame’s filing indicates it provided first-class or charter travel to certain officers.²

The Endowment Excise Tax

Notre Dame’s endowment is large enough to trigger a federal excise tax on net investment income under Section 4968 of the Internal Revenue Code. The tax applies to private institutions with at least 3,000 tuition-paying students and endowment assets of at least $500,000 per student.¹⁴ As of the June 2025 annual report, Notre Dame held approximately $25.4 billion in endowment pool assets and enrolled about 13,042 students.¹⁵

Until recently the tax rate was a flat 1.4 percent. Legislation signed in July 2025 replaced that with a tiered structure, effective for taxable years beginning after December 31, 2025:¹⁴

1.4 percent for a student-adjusted endowment between $500,000 and $750,000 per student.
4 percent for above $750,000 and up to $2 million per student.
8 percent for above $2 million per student.

The student-adjusted endowment is the aggregate fair market value of non-exempt-use assets divided by total enrollment. Notre Dame’s 2025 annual report noted the rate was expected to rise from 1.4 percent to 8 percent.¹⁵ For Notre Dame, the first fiscal year subject to the new tiers is the period beginning July 1, 2026. Filings from earlier years reflect the prior flat 1.4 percent rate on Form 4720, where the tax is reported and paid.

Related Filings Worth Looking Up Separately

A few figures readers often expect to find inside Form 990 actually sit in separate documents.

Form 990-T (Unrelated Business Income)

When a tax-exempt organization earns income from a trade or business regularly carried on and not substantially related to its exempt purpose, that income is taxable. Any exempt organization with $1,000 or more in gross unrelated business income must file Form 990-T.¹⁶ Common university examples include advertising revenue, certain rental income, and some commercial licensing. Form 990-T is a separate filing, but for 501(c)(3) organizations it is subject to public inspection under the same rules as Form 990 and can be searched separately on the IRS site.¹⁷

Schedule F (Foreign Activities)

A university with international programs, overseas study sites, and global investment holdings triggers Schedule F. The schedule is required when combined foreign revenues or expenses exceed $10,000, or when foreign investments totaled $100,000 or more in book value at any point during the year.¹⁸ It breaks down foreign expenditures by geographic region.

Schedule C (Lobbying and Political Activity)

As a 501(c)(3), Notre Dame is barred from participating in political campaigns and faces strict limits on lobbying. Schedule C captures any lobbying expenditures, both direct contacts with legislators and grassroots efforts to influence public opinion on legislation.¹⁹ The schedule also distinguishes lobbying from exempt government-relations activities, such as nonpartisan research provided to legislators or written technical advice given on request.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Tax Exempt Organization Search
2
ProPublica. University of Notre Dame Du Lac – Nonprofit Explorer
3
Federal Demonstration Partnership Expanded Clearinghouse. University of Notre Dame
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University of Notre Dame. Resources for Community Partners
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University of Notre Dame. Year End Close Policies
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Internal Revenue Service. Return Due Dates for Exempt Organizations: Annual Return
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Internal Revenue Service. Public Disclosure and Availability of Exempt Organization Returns and Applications
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Internal Revenue Service. Contributors Identities Not Subject to Disclosure
9
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 990
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule I (Form 990)
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Internal Revenue Service. Form 990 Part VII and Schedule J Reporting Executive Compensation Individuals Included
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Internal Revenue Service. Meaning of Reportable and Other Compensation in Form 990
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule J (Form 990)
14
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 4968
15
University of Notre Dame. 2025 Annual Report – Finance Division
16
Internal Revenue Service. Unrelated Business Income Tax
17
Internal Revenue Service. Exempt Organization Public Disclosure and Availability Requirements
18
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule F (Form 990)
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Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Schedule C (Form 990)