BJE: Builders of Jewish Education

Legal name: Bureau of Jewish Education of Greater Los Angeles Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
954280178
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
(323) 761-8605
Rating
75
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Judaism
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,463,534
Expenses
$4,903,100
Assets
$21,565,101
Liabilities
$2,072,035

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

Leadership & pay

59 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • CHERYL DAVIDSON (Vice President)
  • Craig Rutenberg (President)
  • Nancy Schulman (Vice President)
  • Donald Snyder (Vice President)
  • Jonathan Gerber (Vice President)
  • SHARON DE MAYO (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • DR GIL GRAFF (Exec Director): $379,930 total reported compensation
  • ROBERTA BERRENT (Dir Donor & Community Relations): $224,504 total reported compensation
  • LAUREN ADELSON (Dir of Finance): $179,328 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

BJE enhances the quality of, increases access to, and encourages participation in Jewish education throughout the Jewish communities of greater Los Angeles. BJE, independently and in collaboration with schools and others, is an advocate, planner, catalyst, and creative leader for strengthening and advancing Jewish learning, with special emphasis on children and youth, early childhood through high school, their educators and parents.

What it reported doing in 2024

A. Community impact - 22,500 students and 132 los angeles jewish schools benefited from an array of bje programs, consultation, professional development services, advocacy, and support across early childhood, day school, and part-time jewish education programs, with the goal of strengthening quality and accessibility.b. Direct student services - 10,075 hours of direct services in english language arts, mathematics, counseling, and hebrew language instruction were provided to 590 students.c. Professional development - bje provided and facilitated professional development conferences and workshops for 1,434 total educator enrollments across 75 sessions.d. Professional networks - bje convened 17 professional learning networks organized by school role, including heads of school, development directors, early childhood and part-time religious school program directors, admissions directors among others.e. Title services - bje facilitates access to federally funded title services for students in grades k-12 under the elementary and secondary education act, including support for students falling behind academically in english language arts and mathematics, counseling services professional development for educators, parent and student supports, and strengthening the use of educational technology. *$1,590,000 in educational services were accessed on behalf of students at 27 bje-accredited schools via federally funded programs. *approximately 2,400 hours of professional coaching were provided to 233 teachers and administrators.f. Scholarship programs - bje administered various scholarship programs benefiting 275 students.g. Educator recognition - 12 outstanding los angeles educators were honored by bje as recipients of the milken family jewish educator awards, the lainer awards for early childhood education, and the smotrich family foundation and lainer religious school education awards.h. Jkidla - more than 50,000 users viewed the jkidla website and/or utilized jkidla's digital resources or educational consulting services related to jewish education and experiences for children and families.i. Teen service-learning - bje provided service-learning experiences for teens, including volunteering at food pantries and packing shabbat meals for those in need.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 65% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 86% 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.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 85
  • Accountability: 90
  • Sustainability: 61
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 71.5%; rating input score 71
  • Program expense ratio: 77%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $8.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 33; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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: 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: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 10.3%; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 4.4; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 24.2%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -5.1% per year; rating input score 0; 5th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -0.7% per year; rating input score 0; 9th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 6.2% per year; rating input score 100; 41st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 4 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 71.5% of revenue deployed · 77% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 54 of 54 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $3.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $380K · 59 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 32 of 33 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 37 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 33/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 59/100.