Boston Jewish Film
Legal name: Boston Jewish Film Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043414850
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Newton, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6172449899
- Rating
- 79
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Film, Video
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $353,217
- Expenses
- $542,468
- Assets
- $0
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
13 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DANA VOLMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
- SUSAN ADLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- SUSAN ADLER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $131,027 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Boston Jewish Film celebrates the richness of the Jewish experience through film and media. Throughout the year, BJF engages and inspires the community to explore the full spectrum of Jewish life, values, and culture. Our History. Boston Jewish Film StudioOur youth outreach program brings film screenings and filmmaking to local schools and community centers. Our students Go Beyond the Screen through screenings, discussions, and hands-on filmmaking courses. They discover other cultures, learn to read the language of film, and master the scripting, camera, and editing skills that enable them to tell their own stories on screen. **Clickhere to learn more. []( Boston Jewish Film School Initiative to Combat Antisemitism (SITCA) uses the power of film to help students recognize and counter antisemitism. Our curators work with teachers to select a movie best suited to their 7-12 grade...
What it reported doing in 2025
Boston jewish film celebrated the richness of the jewish experience through the boston jewish film festival (november), the boston israeli film festival (march) and multiple year- round programs that engaged and inspired our audiences to explore the full spectrum of jewish life, culture and values. In greater boston more than 4,600 tickets were sold for boston jewish film festivals and programs.effective december 31, 2025, boston jewish film merged with jewish community centers of greater boston, inc.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 70% 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. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 4
- Growth: 0
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 74.7%; rating input score 75
- Fundraising efficiency: $3.53 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -53.6%; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0; rating input score 1; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: Limited
- Officer compensation ratio: 24.2%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: -1.7% per year; rating input score 0; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.2% per year; rating input score 0; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.1% per year; rating input score 0; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 7 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 74.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $405K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $131K · 13 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 4/100.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 1/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.