American Sephardi Federation

Overview

Mission

The american sephardi federation preserves, promotes, and perpetuates the rich mosaic history, cultures, and traditions of greater sephardic communities as an essential part of the jewish experience by creating high-profile events, exhibitions, and scholarly and cultural conferences, producing widely-read online and print publications, supporting research, scholarship, the national sephardic library & archives, sephardi house and broome & allen fellows on campuses coast-to-coast, as well as representing the sephardic voice in diplomatic and jewish communal affairs as a member of the conference of presidents of major american jewish organizations, world jewish congress, and the usas chair at the world sephardi federation.

What it reported doing in 2024

National sephardic library & archives - the asf is home to one of the largest publicly accessible libraries and archives of greater sephardic interest in the western hemisphere, containing books, documents, photographs, films, judaica, and ephemera, at the center for jewish history. A proud partner of the american jewish historical societys jewish archives history network. Important asf collections include: the archives of sephardic jewish brotherhood of america and the sephardic home for the aged. Professor aviva ben-ur has described the judeo-spanish collection of louis n. Levy at the asf as "one of the most important ladino collections in the world".

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 82% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 92% 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
237338689
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Headquarters
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2122948350
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development Programs
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

The verdict

SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 62
  • Transparency & Controls: 94
  • Accountability: 79
  • Sustainability: 32
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 67.2%; rating input score 67
  • Program expense ratio: 64.5%; rating input score 64
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.58 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • 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: 4 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -1.4%; rating input score 31; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.98; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.6; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.9%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.4% per year; rating input score 100; 57th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.7% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 67.2% of revenue deployed · 64.5% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 37 of 37 board members independent · 4 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $592K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $100K · 38 people listed
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
  • Filing history: 8 annual filings from 2011 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

Leadership & pay

38 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • JASON GUBERMAN (EXECUTIVE DI): $100,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: FY2024.