Cantors Assembly

Legal name: Cantor's Assembly

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131959506
IRS 990 coverage
2011–2025
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Fairlawn, OH, USA
Phone
330-864-8533
Rating
73
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Judaism
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$846,507
Expenses
$930,609
Assets
$1,706,839
Liabilities
$166,926

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

31 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JEFF MYERS (PRESIDENT)
  • MATT AXELROD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
  • JESSE HOLZER (VICE PRESIDENT AT LARGE)

Highest reported compensation

  • MATT AXELROD (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $154,806 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

The Cantors Assembly promotes the profession of the Cantorate, serving our members and their congregations by supporting our colleagues in their roles as vibrant, engaging, vital clergy and musical leaders. Beyond offering our members opportunities for mentorship, professional development and personal growth, we also provide essential services such as placement, insurance and retirement planning. H. L. Miller Cantorial School provides a strong foundation in liturgy, music, and Jewish studies—complemented by innovative approaches to prayer—all preparing students to shape joyful and soulful Jewish communities. Our curriculum brings together musical creativity and spirituality, historic texts, and cutting-edge professional training, with a focus on developing cantors who can meet the evolving needs of today’s Jewish communities. Students can take advantage of JTS’s unparalleled...

What it reported doing in 2025

This organization promotes and advances the traditions of jewish religious worship; maintains the highest standards among hazzan as clergy and provides for their commissioning as hazzan-minister; preserves and enlarges the liturgical and sacred musical heritage of the jewish people; advances the cause of jewish learning and jewish music; promotes the welfare of its members; fosters collegiality and cooperation among all engaged in the sacred calling of hazzanut; and acts in concert with the jewish theological seminary, the rabbinical seminary, and the united synagogue of conservative judaism.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 65
  • Accountability: 84
  • Sustainability: 31
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 87.7%; rating input score 88
  • Program expense ratio: 79.8%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • 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: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -9.9%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.83; rating input score 62; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.6%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 0.4% per year; rating input score 100; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8.2% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 87.7% of revenue deployed · 79.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 42 of 42 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $742K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $155K · 31 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 24 of 24 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 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 — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 35/100.