BaMidbar
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 872444477
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2021–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Denver, CO, USA
- Phone
- 7208352937
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Judaism
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $437,593
- Expenses
- $1,030,709
- Assets
- $508,841
- Liabilities
- $7,607
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
17 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- JORDANA MAYSCHAK (CEO)
- EMILY HEEREN (CPO/INTERIM CEO)
- WHITNEY FISCH (CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- JAMIE BORNSTEIN (CAO): $164,709 total reported compensation
- EMILY HEEREN (CPO/INTERIM CEO): $134,897 total reported compensation
- JORDANA MAYSCHAK (CEO): $94,019 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
BaMidbar is a Jewish mental-health and resilience organization focused on supporting Jewish teens and young adults as they navigate challenges and build confidence, skills, and community support; BaMidbar’s operations are closing (effective Sept 1, 2025) and its mission/impact will continue through a trusted community partner.
What it reported doing in 2024
Clinical: bamidbar offers community-based and immersive adventure therapy programs for jewish teens and young adults (ages 13-28) struggling with mild to moderate emotional, behavioral, and social challenges. The program uses wilderness and adventure-based experiences as a vehicle to promote self-reflection and therapeutic growth, while helping participants build a toolkit to face life's challenges. Licensed mental health professionals provide individual and group therapy, and develop individualized treatment plans for each student.
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 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 65
- Accountability: 91
- Sustainability: 13
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 66.6%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.73 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Missing
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- Board or committee approval: Missing
- 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: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Fail
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -135.5%; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.49; rating input score 24; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 50.7%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4.3% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -21.3% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -9.8% per year; rating input score 0; 6th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 66.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 11 of 11 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $687K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $165K · 17 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2021 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
- 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.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 1/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 24/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 4/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.