We dug through over a decade of eating club tax returns. Here's what we found.

With Street Week 2023 currently in progress for the Class of 2025 and some members of the Class of 2024, Princeton’s eating clubs have been the main topic of interest. In addition to questions such as “What is bicker?” and “Which clubs are sign-in?” many students may wonder how the eating clubs generate income, manage their budgets, and fund operations.

To answer those questions, The Daily Princetonian analyzed each eating club’s publicly available Form 990 filings over the past 16 years. Form 990s — required for all income tax-exempt organizations — detail everything about an eating club’s finances, from stock investments to expenditures for food and beverages.

The ‘Prince’ reached out to every club and the Interclub Council (ICC), and received a response from Cloister’s general manager. Every other club and the ICC either did not reply or declined requests for comment.

For a more detailed explanation of the ‘Prince’s methodology, please see the methodology section.

Click on the highlighted parts to explore the data we analyzed!

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form

990-EZ

Department of the Treasury Internal Revenue Service

Short Form
Return of Organization Exempt From Income Tax


Under section 501(c), 527, or 4947(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code (except private foundations)

▶ Do not enter social security numbers on this form as it may be made public.
▶ Go to www.irs.gov/Form990EZ for instructions and the latest information.

OMB No. 1545-1150

2021

Open to Public Inspection

A
For the 2021 calendar year, or tax year beginning
January 31st
, 2021, and ending
December 31st
, 2021
B
Check if applicable:
C
 Name of organization
Princeton University Eating Clubs
 Number and street (or P.O. box, if mail is not delivered to street address)
 Prospect Avenue
Room/Suite
 City or town, state or province, country, and ZIP or foreign postal code
Princeton, NJ, USA, 08544
D
  Employer identification number
XXXXXXXXXX
E
  Employer Telephone number
XXXXXXXXXX
F
  Group Exemption
Number ▶
G
Accounting Method:
I
Website: ▶

J
Tax Exempt Status (check only one) -
H
K
Form of organization:
L
Add lines 5b, 6c, and 7b to line 9 to determine gross receipts. If gross receipts are $200,000 or more, or if total assets (Part II, column (B) below) are $500,000 or more, file Form 990 instead of Form 990-EZ
$

Part I
Revenue, Expenses, and Changes in Net Assets or Fund Balances (see the instructions for Part I)
Check if the organization used Schedule O to respond to any question in this Part I
Revenue
1
Contributions, gifts, grants, and similar amounts received
1
2
Program service revenue including government fees and contracts
2
3
Program service revenue including government fees and contracts
3
4
Investment income
The ‘Prince’ analyzed a select set of stocks that the eating clubs invested in, mostly from the period between 2008 and 2010. Eating clubs invest their endowments to provide an additional revenue stream. In 2019, Colonial had the best stock returns with $81,995 on its $1,632,766 investment, or 5.02 percent. Meanwhile, Cloister had just a $34 return on its $424,307 investment, or 0.008 percent. Some of the reported stocks may not be stocks chosen by the clubs themselves, but rather stocks received in donations.
4
5a
Gross amount from sale of assets other than inventory
5a
 b
Less: cost or other basis and sales expenses
b
 c
Gain or (loss) from sale of assets other than inventory (Subtract line 5b from line 5a)
Of the disclosed securities, Vanguard’s collection of securities is a popular option with over $13 million invested by multiple different clubs and foundations.
c
6
Gaming and fundraising events
 a
Gross income from gaming (attach Schedule G if greater than $15,000)
a
 b
Gross income from fundraising events (not including $__________ of contributions from fundraising events reported on line 1) (attach Schedule G if the sum of such gross income and contributions exceeds $15,000)
b
 c
Less: direct expenses from gaming and fundraising events
c
 d
Net income or (loss) from gaming and fundraising events (add lines 6a and 6b and subtract line 6c)
d
7a
Gross sales of inventory, less returns and allowances
7a
 b
Less: cost of goods sold
b
 c
Gross profit or (loss) from sales of inventory (Subtract line 7b from line 7a)
c
8
Other revenue (describe in Schedule O)
8
9
Total revenue. Add lines 1, 2, 3, 4, 5c, 6d, 7c, and 8

The eating clubs earn money in a variety of ways. The biggest component is program revenue, which includes money received by providing a good or service directly related to the social function of the club, such as undergraduate student dues, lodging, and events. Across all clubs, an average of 85 percent of all revenue comes from program revenue. Non-program revenue may include investments, donations, and occasional sales of property. Colonial had the smallest percentage of total revenue with program revenue at an average of 75 percent — their slightly more successful investments demonstrate that the club relies less on program revenue. Another component of total income is “Contribution and Grants” which are mainly alumni dues and donations.

According to Cloister’s general manager Jason Miller, “Alumni contributions are important not only financially, they also show how engaged your alumni members are in the club. We typically receive 10 to 15 percent of our revenue from Alumni contributions.”

Donations typically make up about 10 to 15 percent of club revenues, but the number varies year to year. In years when Tiger Inn and Cap & Gown were renovating, there were sharp increases in donations, likely due to expansion and renovation fundraising. Out of all the clubs, Ivy had the highest percentage of revenue that came from contributions and grants, at 21 percent.

Actual worth of donations sometimes fluctuate. For example, in 2010-2011, Ivy received $1,131,603 in securities contributions, which are tradable financial assets such as stocks. Clubs also sometimes get revenue in the form of loans — such as when Quad received a $50,000 loan from the chairperson of its board in 2011 and a $200,000 loan from one of its trustees in 2012-2013. The trustee does not appear to be charging significant interest on loans, with no repayment totalling more than one percent interest.

This amount may be an underestimate of how much some clubs receive in donations, as almost all the clubs at some point received grants through the Princeton Prospect Foundation (PPF). The PPF is a nonprofit that is associated with all of the clubs except Cottage. The PPF is responsible for the historic preservation and support of the Princeton Eating Clubs. They also host open houses to the general public and have published a book on the history of the eating clubs.

Many eating club alumni prefer to donate through the Princeton Prospect Foundation, as opposed to directly to the club, because the foundation’s contributions are tax deductible, whereas donations to the eating clubs usually are not — which is a difference many clubs warn about on their respective websites. A few clubs also have their own charitable or educational foundations that allow its members to donate tax deducted, such as the Ivy 1879 Foundation, the Cottage 1886 Foundation, the Princeton Charter Foundation, and the Princeton Cannon Dial Elm Foundation. While all donations are theoretically transferred to the club, they are not always reported for larger projects such as construction. Over the past 15 years, the percent of tax-deductible donations vary between clubs, from 45 percent at Cannon to 94 percent at Tiger Inn, which comes out to an average of 80 percent across all of the eating clubs.

9
Expenses
10
Grants and similar amounts paid (list in Schedule O)
10
11
Benefits paid to or for members
11
12
Salaries, other compensation, and employee benefits
12
13
Professional fees and other payments to independent contractors
13
14
Occupancy, rent, utilities, and maintenance
14
15
Printing, publications, postage, and shipping
15
16
Other expenses (describe in Schedule O)
16
17
Total expenses. Add lines 10 through 16

Between 2004 to 2019, each club on average spent $1.3 million per year. The largest component of expenses is employee salary, averaging $450,000 per year per club, accounting for an average of 34 percent of total expenses. The next largest driver of expenses is food and beverages: Across the clubs, it averages out to $288,000 annually. In 2018, Ivy had the highest expenses at almost $2.1 million, while Charter had the lowest expenses at $990,000.

Among club employees, the club manager, usually responsible for day-to-day operations of the entire club, is the highest earning employee of 10 of the 11 clubs. The exception is Tiger Inn, where the kitchen manager draws a higher salary than the club manager.

The ‘Prince’ broke down club dues by club, focusing on 2017 specifically. Ivy was the most expensive, with dues of $9,680 while Cottage had the lowest dues, at $8,675. The difference in dues between clubs varied only by about a thousand dollars. On the other hand, spending per capita, or the amount that the clubs spend per member, varies widely, with Terrace averaging $5,442 per member to Cloister averaging $13,767 per member. Seven clubs charged members more than their spending per student, whereas Cap & Gown, Colonial, Ivy, and Cloister charged less. These numbers might have also been influenced by the number of events each club hosts — for example, Ivy spent $131,260 on entertainment, more than three times the $34,400 that Cottage spent on the same.

The club with the highest total spending is not the highest spender per student. Tower was the club that spent the most for total spending, but Tower also had the second most number of members, at 231 in 2017. Club membership varied widely, with the smallest club, Cloister, having 96 members in 2017. Therefore, in spending per capita, Tower comes in seventh. Tiger Inn, which was fourth in spending, was tenth in spending per capita. On the other hand, Cloister is ranked eighth for total spending, but due to its small membership, it spent the most per member.

Pandemic impact

The 2018-2019 academic year was the last uninterrupted school year before students were sent home due to the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2023. The forms from the 2019-2020 school year in which the last two and a half months were when Princeton was primarily virtual show a clear decrease in spending.

On average the clubs spent $93,000 less on food and beverages in the 2019-2020 school year than the 2018-2019 school year, a roughly 30 percent decrease. Total expenses dropped by $173,000 for each club, an 11.5 percent decrease from previous year. During the same period revenue from campus income streams dropped on average $134,000, likely due to loss of funds from room and board and hosted events. For many clubs, fundraising spiked during the 2019-2020 school year, possibly due to club fundraising drives after students were sent home.

Approximately nine weeks of the 2019-2020 school year were virtual, about a third of the academic year.

At the time of publication, only three clubs had data for 2020-2021, with an average of $1,000 in program revenue — a 99.93 percent decrease. Despite all the clubs being shut down beginning in mid-March, the clubs still had significant expenses such as salaries, which were about half of the usual expense, insurances, and tax. Each club was kept afloat by $500,000 donations or grants each. The sources of these grants cannot be confirmed.

Food and Beverage

In 2014, Tower had spent the most on food and beverages out of any club for any single year in the period analyzed, at $482,615. Tower prepares many meals to order, possibly leading to higher expenses. In 2014, the total spent on food and beverage for all clubs was $3,620,765, the highest across the decade. In 2009, Cottage spent $42,931 on beverages alone.

Property Tax

Another significant cost for eating clubs is property tax. The current tax rate is about 2.4 percent of the property value. Ivy leads the pack, paying $112,881 per year in property taxes, while Terrace pays only $43,776. In 2010, Cottage Club took the Princeton Borough to court over property taxes and demanded $550,000 in back taxes, a case the club lost. Tower also did not pay any property tax for the past few decades by hosting precepts and seminars in their rooms, according to their 2022 report to the Princeton Prospect Foundation.

17
Net Assets
18
Excess or (deficit) for the year (Subtract line 17 from line 9)
18
19
Net assets or fund balances at beginning of year (from line 27, column (A)) (must agree with end-of-year figure reported on prior year’s return)
19
20
Other changes in net assets or fund balances (explain in Schedule O)
20
21
Net assets or fund balances at end of year. Combine lines 18 through 20

Ivy Club has kept its historical place as the most affluent club across the analyzed period, with their most recent net valuation — the sum of how much cash, stock, and property the club has minus all debts — at $9,089,607. Cap & Gown Club and Tiger Inn are a close second and third with net valuations of $8,058,989 and $6,979,512, respectively. Two clubs that have seen substantial increases in their net valuation over the period are Cap & Gown and Tiger Inn. Both clubs went through substantial renovations in the early 2010s. Charter Club, which also underwent renovations, did not see a similar increase in net valuation. Quadrangle Club and Cloister Inn are the clubs with the lowest net valuations, with net valuations of $752,720 and $602,212, respectively.

The largest assets that clubs tend to own are their building and land. Ivy reported their building and land to be worth almost $7.5 million, more than 20 times what Cloister reported for its building and land. Every year, clubs can claim on their tax form that their property has depreciated, up to a certain level. Quadrangle and Cloister reported substantial depreciation of their properties, reporting the depreciated value of their property as over 70 percent less than the original price. In mid-2020, Quad reported its property, comprising the building and 1.2 acres of land, to be worth just below $600,000, drastically different from the official assessment of the property from the county at about $2.2 million, indicating that the market value of the property may be even higher.
21
Methodology and Clarifications

Form 990s from 2004-2019 were collected for all eating clubs with the exception of Tower Club, whose last available filing was 2017. The eating clubs tax forms contain data from July 1 to June 30 of the following year, which aligns with the University’s academic year. For example, the tax form containing financials from July 2018 to July 2019 will be referred to as 2018 throughout the project.

The date range of data on the popular securities varied across the eating clubs and is as follows: Cap & Gown (2004-2007), Charter (2004-2012), Cottage (2008 and 2014-2017), Ivy (2005-2010), Tower (2004-2007 and 2013), and Princeton Prospect Foundation (2011-2019). If a club held the same or similar security over multiple years, the year with the highest amount was used for the visualization.

Dates for stocks are indicated by the selling date, not the acquired date.

For total assets only, unless otherwise specified, the data from Ivy, Charter, Cottage, and Cannon also include the assets from their respective foundations.

Information about property taxes were taken from the New Jersey Property Record.

Used in per capita calculations, historical data about club membership was gathered from the Wayback machine captures of The Eating Clubs of Princeton University website.

Percent of tax deductible contributions out of total contributions is calculated by summing all the tax deductible contributions divided by total contributions. Tax deductible contribution is taken as the sum from the Prospect Foundation listed outward grant to that particular club and the club’s own foundation grant to the club, if applicable. The one exception is Cottage, which, starting in 2008, began to directly use Cottage Foundation money for building maintenance and improvement. In these cases, the entire donation to Cottage Foundation is used, instead of only the part given to the club. Total contribution is typically just the amount reported on the Form 990 of the club’s own form. Some exceptions were made to account funds that went directly from a foundation to usage, such as Tiger Inn’s renovation — where it received $5 million from the Prospect Foundation over a two year period but only a $1 million grant was reported on Tiger Inn’s Form 990.

This project involved multi-year data spanning over a decade. However, there had been no adjustment for inflation. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics Consumer Product Index calculator, there has been a 36 percent increase since the beginning date of 2004. Therefore, the multi-year progression of the data may not be an accurate depiction of expenses and per capita expenditures.


Grace Zhao is a contributing writer for the Data section of the ‘Prince.’ She is a first-year concentrating in operations research and financial engineering (ORFE).

David Yan is a contributing writer for the Data section of the ‘Prince.’ He is a first-year concentrating in computer science.

Head Data Editor Elaine Huang contributed data collection. She is a sophomore concentrating in Operations Research and Financial Engineering (ORFE).

Editor’s Note: This project has been updated in Line 21 to correctly state that Tiger Inn has seen substantial increases in its net valuation. A previous version of the project had erroneously stated Charter Club as opposed to Tiger Inn. The ‘Prince’ regrets this error.

Please direct any corrections requests to corrections[at]dailyprincetonian.com.