B'nai B'rith Housing
Legal name: Covenant Commonwealth Corporation Inc C/o B'nai B'rith Housing Ne Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 204158996
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-EZ 2013
- Location
- Brighton, MA, USA
- Phone
- 6177315291
- Rating
- 49
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Housing Development, Construction, Management
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $967,875
- Expenses
- $0
- Assets
- $7,952,972
- Liabilities
- $815,749
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BURT GESSERMAN (PRESIDENT)
- MARVIN SIFLINGER (PRESIDENT EMERITUS (THROUGH 2025))
- SUSAN L GITTELMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- SUSAN L GITTELMAN (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $422,513 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
B’nai B’rith Housing (BBH) is a regional nonprofit housing developer whose mission is to ease the housing crisis in the Greater Boston area. Our Real Estate Council of Advisors is made up of some of Greater Boston’s most distinguished real estate development leaders who donate their time and support to help us advance our mission. Picture of members of B'nai B'rith's Real estate Council Image of Lawrence Curtis and Gilbert Winn of WinnCompanies, members of B'nai B'rith's Real Estate Council of Advisors. CHAIRMAN –Edward Zuker** Chestnut Hill Realty. What We Do We are B’nai B’rith Housing (BBH) a regional nonprofit housing developer whose mission is to ease the housing crisis in the Greater Boston area.** We work with cities and towns to create economically viable, affordable housing options which respond to the needs and aspirations of each community. Our housing, both rental and...
What it reported doing in 2025
To own, develop and invest in real property located in new england and to provide low-income housing through rehabilitation, construction, renovation and operations.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- Distribution model
- No current program activity. The filing reports no program spending for the current year.
The verdict
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 0
- Transparency & Controls: 93
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 4
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 0%; rating input score 0
- Program expense ratio: Limited
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 15th 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: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: Limited
- Total-asset coverage ratio: Limited
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: Limited
Growth
- Program expense growth: -38.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 12.6% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 18.1% per year; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 0% of revenue deployed
- Governance: 19 of 19 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment
- Leadership: top reported pay $423K · 20 people listed
- Consistency: 13 of 14 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Related organizations: 11 filed related-organization links
- 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: Mission deployment rate scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 34/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 8 not reported.
- High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.