Council of American Jewish Museums Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 270543442
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018
- Location
- Jackson, MS, USA
- Phone
- 9178155054
- Rating
- 71
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.*
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $172,143
- Expenses
- $248,050
- Assets
- $154,296
- Liabilities
- $0
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
People named in this filing
- JORDANNA GESSLER (BOARD CHAIR)
- ALISHA BABBSTEIN (SECRETARY)
- SUSAN BRONSON (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
The mission of the council of american jewish museums is to strengthen, position, and champion america's jewish museums as invaluable public and jewish resources. Our network of jewish museums, archives, and cultural organizations contributes to a society that is more vibrant, resilient, and understanding.
What it reported doing in 2024
Antisemitism initiative - institute of museum and library services (imls) national leadership grant for museums. In january 2025, cajm received a final payment of 50,000 from the institute of museum and library services (award no. Mg-255363-oms-24) through the national leadership grants - museums program. This payment, received on january 24, 2025, and reported in the fiscal year ending june 2025, supported the completion of cajm's national initiative, museums respond: countering antisemitism. The project culminated in the development and public release of the museums respond field guide to combating antisemitism on january 13, 2025, expanding upon outcomes from the 2024 summit on museums and antisemitism. The initiative strengthened the capacity of museums to address antisemitism through diaglogue, civic engagement, and educational resources. Following imls's final review, the grant was formally closed on june 18, 2025. Cajm continues to build on this work by keeping the field guide publicly available on our website and offering training workshops to extend its reach and support museum professionals in fostering empathy, understanding, and community partnerships nationwide.
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 - 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 a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 64
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 64
- Sustainability: 29
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 80.5%; rating input score 81
- Program expense ratio: 55.5%; rating input score 56
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 14
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -44.1%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.62; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 80; 80th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 4% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 4.8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 80.5% of revenue deployed · 55.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 1 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $138K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 21 of 21 current checks pass
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- 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 — Accountability: Governance controls: 5 of 6 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 56/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 29/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.