Evelyn Rubenstein Jewish Community Center of Houston
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 741198298
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Houston, TX, USA
- Phone
- 7137293200
- Rating
- 84
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Religion Related N.E.C.
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $23,705,120
- Expenses
- $26,521,927
- Assets
- $62,733,452
- Liabilities
- $11,738,763
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
48 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Debbie Diamond (President)
- Jeremy Samuels (Honorary President)
- Elizabeth Cohen (President-Elect)
- Barbara Bratter (Vice President)
- Michelle Fingeret (Vice President)
- Marcy Laviage (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Joel Dinkin (CEO thru 12/25): $382,228 total reported compensation
- Alison Sullivan (CFO): $223,039 total reported compensation
- Zoe Miller (Chief of Jewish Education): $135,395 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Develop and strengthen Jewish identity, foster Jewish values, and enrich the Jewish community and the greater community. When you step into the Evelyn Rubenstein JCC, you’ll find a center filled with remarkable people, dedicated volunteers and a wide-array of year-round programs, activities and special events. At the J, we’re committed to enriching the lives of our members and the community. Since 1936 the J has been a place where families and individuals come together for friendship, affiliation and socialization in a safe and welcoming environment. Throughout our buildings, you’ll find a committed staff working together to provide our members and guests with quality experiences, excellent service and a sense of belonging. Our Mission.
What it reported doing in 2024
Center for Community Services: The Center for Community Services provides assistance to thousands of disabled persons, homebound and isolated seniors, hospice patients, and veterans in Harris County and 18 additional counties in Southeast Texas. The Center administers three AmeriCorps Seniors programs: Harris County Foster Grandparent Program, Harris County Senior Companion Program and Retired and Senior Volunteer Program of Southeast Texas (RSVP). The Center also sponsors a Meals on Wheels and a senior transportation program known as J Ride, which serves Southwest Houston. See Schedule OThe 69 Senior Companion and Foster Grandparent volunteers provided over 55,000 hours of service to community organizations in the form of mentoring at-risk youth, providing companionship to isolated seniors as well as respite for their caregivers.During the year, 647 RSVP volunteers provided 68,000 hours of service across an 18-county service area. RSVP volunteer efforts focused on providing Healty Futures services for older adults. These include respite services, nutrition/food support, companionship, transportation, disaster preparedness education to the public, and education to prevent Medicare fraud. The Meals on Wheels program successfully delivered over 104,000 meals to adults age 60+ living in southwest Houston. The JCC Meals on Wheels program is the fourth largest provider of hot meals in Harris County and served approximately 690 seniors in our community last year. Meals were delivered by 300 volunteers in addition to paid drivers. Hot meals are provided daily, and additional frozen meals are provided in advance of holiday closures. Shelf-stable meals are provided annually, so clients are prepared in case of emergency closures due to inclement weather. Supplemental weekend meals are provided as funding allows. By receiving food at home, the clients are able to maintain nutritional health, receive daily contact with another human being thereby decreasing isolation, and maintain a sense of independence and dignity, thereby delaying nursing home care. The J Ride program provides safe, reliable, non-emergency transportation for adults aged 60+ and adults with disabilities. J Ride was created in collaboration with Jewish Family Service, Jewish Federation of Greater Houston, and Goldberg B'nai B'rith Towers. In addition, the Center provides a variety of social, educational, and fitness activities for adults over age 60.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 74% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 95% 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Expenses are high relative to revenue and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 83
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 37
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 87.7%; rating input score 88
- Program expense ratio: 78.2%; rating input score 78
- Fundraising efficiency: $21.77 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 59; 59th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Missing
- 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; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -11.9%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.37; rating input score 67; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 60; 60th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.6%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 2.6% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 3.7% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 11.8% per year; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 87.7% of revenue deployed · 78.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 41 of 41 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $20.7M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $382K · 48 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $3.2M reported
- Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
- Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 8 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 2 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.
- 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.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 9/100.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 59/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 54/100.