American Jewish Historical Society

Overview

Mission

Established in 1892, AJHS is the oldest ethnic, cultural archive in the United States, providing access to more than 30 million documents, 50,000 books, photographs, artwork, audio-visual material, and artifacts that reflect the history of the Jewish presence in the United States from 1654 to the present. Mission: foster awareness and appreciation of American Jewish heritage and serve as a national scholarly resource for research through the collection, preservation and dissemination of materials relating to American Jewish history.

What it reported doing in 2024

Library and archive- see schedule o - the society welcomes all audiences, including scholars, who wish to conduct research on american jewish life from first arrival in the americas to the present day. The library consists of approximately 50,000 volumes, including both books and serials (journals and periodicals). The society houses over 3,000 archival collections and has developed finding AIDS for its personal and institutional holdings; these finding AIDS are all publicly accessible on ajhs's website. On-site and virtual usage of ajhs's holdings remains very robust and continues to increase, with patrons from across the country and worldwide accessing the archival materials. Since establishing its own-house digitization lab in 2022, the society has continued expanding its digital holdings and digitization program, in alignment with its mandate to provide access to historic materials. In the last quarter of 2024, statistics on digital use showcased that the top three finding AIDS accessed were: the hebrew immigrant aid society (accessed 2459 times); the records of the american jewish congress (accessed 2283 times); and the hebrew orphan asylum collection (accessed 1898 times). These are collections which feature a signfiicant amount of digitized content, thus demonstrating the overall value of the society's active digitization efforts and underscoring the ongoing need for additional extensive digital content and curricular resources prepared by the society.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 85% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% of reported program-service expenses outside its grant, affiliate-payment, and member-benefit lines. This expense classification does not rule out separately announced grant awards.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131764804
IRS 990 coverage
2013–2024
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Headquarters
New York, NY, United States
Phone
(212) 294-6160
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Historical Societies & Historic Preservation
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 58
  • Transparency & Controls: 74
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 58.2%; rating input score 58
  • Program expense ratio: 67.8%; rating input score 68
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.26 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 20.1%; rating input score 77; 77th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.91; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 23.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 28th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 58.2% of revenue deployed · 67.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $237K · 21 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 33 of 33 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 11 annual filings from 2013 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • Grant readiness: Federal tax and exclusion status, award history, and grant-maker relationships.
  • People: Everyone the filings name, and which of them the filings identify by more than a name.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Leadership & pay

21 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • GEMMA BIRNBAUM (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $237,029 total reported compensation
  • MELANIE MEYERS-MCCARTY (DEPUTY DIRECTOR CHAIR, COLLECTIONS AND ENGAGEMENT): $155,421 total reported compensation
  • PATRICIA COTTEN (DIRECTOR OF ADVANCEMENT): $134,645 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.