The Heschel School

Legal name: Abraham Joshua Heschel School

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
133091539
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
New York, NY, United States
Phone
212.784.1234
Rating
83
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Elementary, Secondary Education, K - 12
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$79,123,340
Expenses
$70,983,634
Assets
$181,367,742
Liabilities
$22,657,399

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

29 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • BEN ARCHIBALD (PRESIDENT)
  • DAN SENOR (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JACOB W BUCHDAHL (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • ARIELA DUBLER (HEAD OF SCHOOL): $732,149 total reported compensation
  • LINDA HOLOF-SAPOSH (ASSISTANT HEAD OF SCHOOL): $495,188 total reported compensation
  • ALAN SCHEFEN (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $477,991 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Abraham Joshua Heschel School is an independent Jewish day school named in memory of one of the great Jewish leaders, teachers, and activists of the 20th century and dedicated to the values that characterized Rabbi Heschel’s life: intellectual exploration, integrity, love of the Jewish people and tradition, and a commitment to social justice. The Heschel School is a pluralistic, egalitarian community that includes families from a wide range of Jewish backgrounds, practices, and beliefs, and supports equal participation by boys and girls and men and women in the school’s religious, intellectual, and communal life.

What it reported doing in 2024

The abraham joshua heschel school is committed to identifying, teaching, and applying a full range of standards that have found expression in jewish tradition and which promote the development of our students into civically responsible and spiritually sensitive human beings. The educational philosophy of the abraham joshua heschel school is grounded in a strong curriculum which requires each student to seek personal meaning in that curriculum. Our concern for the whole child is reflected in attention to and the balance between intellectual and emotional growth. We emphasize values and moral education. We view concern for the child's emotional development, the quality of relationships among students and staff, and reaching out to others as critical components of such an education. See schedule o.our educational program is designed to develop skills of inquiry and expression, and to foster understanding of the self and others. We provide models of excellence in our staff and program and emphasize the importance of hard work in the pursuit of achievement. Goals for each school year are viewed in the context of our longer range vision of education as a developmental process.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 85% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 73% for direct work, and 27% for grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 86
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 66
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 94.8%; rating input score 95
  • Program expense ratio: 90.6%; rating input score 91
  • Fundraising efficiency: $5.38 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 68th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 77th 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; 77th 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.3%; rating input score 73; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.56; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.3%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 5% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -2.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 94.8% of revenue deployed · 90.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 21 of 21 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $64.3M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $732K · 29 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.6M reported
  • Consistency: 43 of 43 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 10 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
  • 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.
  • Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 23/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.