Boston Islamic Seminary
Legal name: Boston Islamic Seminary Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 815432436
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2018–2023
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Chelsea, MA, US
- Phone
- (781) 584-0883
- Rating
- 73
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Islam
- Affiliation
- Islam
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $646,868
- Expenses
- $678,553
- Assets
- $603,052
- Liabilities
- $11,207
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
People named in this filing
- MEHMET EFE AKENGIN (CLERK)
- HOSSAM ALJABRI (VICE CHAIRMA)
- HASSAN EL-ALAMI (CHAIRMAN)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To prepare exemplary and professional American Muslim Religious leaders for compassionate service to society.
What it reported doing in 2023
Semester courses: nondegree semester courses that serve over 250 registered students. The boston islamic seminary serve its student population by offering nondegree semester courses for various studying tracks. The bis is approved by the Massachusetts department of higher education to award a master's degree in islamic religious leadership.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 72% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 41
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 70.4%; rating input score 70
- Program expense ratio: 67.1%; rating input score 67
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.98 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- 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: 3 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 43
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -4.9%; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.89; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 42.8% per year; rating input score 100; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 11.7% per year; rating input score 100; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 9.8% per year; rating input score 100; 58th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 70.4% of revenue deployed · 67.1% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 6 of 6 board members independent · 3 of 7 filing controls reported · 4 of 6 affiliation controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $455K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 22 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2018 to 2023
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- 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.
Grant-readiness screening is separate from the live rating, not a measure of program quality. Review the source records before making a grant decision.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 27/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 26/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 39/100.
- High — Grant Readiness: Automatic revocation: this organization had its federal tax-exempt status automatically revoked.