Chochmat HaLev
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 943200772
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Berkeley, CA, USA
- Phone
- 510-704-9687
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Judaism
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $787,130
- Expenses
- $709,715
- Assets
- $760,104
- Liabilities
- $338,778
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Estee Solomon Gray (President)
- Neil Goldberg (Vice President)
People named in this filing
- Lilly Wolff (Director)
- Peter Arvail (Director)
- Rebecca Abravanel (Treasurer)
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 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Chochmat HaLev is a source of fresh, relevant, and inspiring pathways into Jewish practice. Jewish Renewal is a trans-denominational approach to revitalizing Judaism. As an attitude, not a denomination, it is a doorway through which we can access all branches of Judaism to explore how they might inform our contemporary vision of a socially progressive, egalitarian, and celebratory connection with the Divine and with each other. Jewish mystical tradition teaches that we live simultaneously in four worlds: action, emotion, thought, and spirit. Jewish Renewal provides opportunities for all of us to fully embody this teaching and invites us to live lives that matter. CHL-Logo-Web Our Logo.
What it reported doing in 2024
Shabbat and other Holidays - Our services and holiday observances are the foundation of our community. They continue to be open to the public. Jewish religious services every week on the Jewish Sabbath - alternating between Friday nights and Saturday morning services, as well as many Jewish holidays such as Purim, Passover, and Shavuot. Such religious services have been offered by Chochmat HaLev for approximately the past 20 years
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 85% 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 54
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 65.8%; rating input score 66
- Program expense ratio: 72.2%; rating input score 72
- Fundraising efficiency: $5.92 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 9.8%; rating input score 61; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.07; rating input score 45; 45th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.45; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 81; 81st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 65.8% of revenue deployed · 72.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 9 of 9 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $512K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 26 of 26 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 7 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 6 not reported.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 45/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 18/100.