Jewish Federation of Fort Wayne
Legal name: Fort Wayne Jewish Federation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 350869051
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Fort Wayne, IN, United States
- Phone
- 260.456.0400
- Rating
- 81
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Federated Giving Programs
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $501,168
- Expenses
- $443,174
- Assets
- $5,312,641
- Liabilities
- $31,906
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
15 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- BEN EISBART (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- MICHAEL THEISE (EXECUTIVE DI): $40,192 total reported compensation
- BONNIE POMERANTZ (SECRETARY): $37,875 total reported compensation
- JAKI SCHREIER (FORMER EXEC): $13,879 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
> “To support the well-being and continuity of the Jewish people in greater Fort Wayne, in Israel, and throughout the world.” The Jewish Federation of Fort Wayne was organized in 1921, primarily as a welfare and relief organization to coordinate communal fundraising for the entire Jewish community. In 1939, Fort Wayne employed its first executive director. In subsequent years the Federation developed into a multi-faceted organization serving people of all ages in the areas of social services, education, cultural programs, leadership development, community relations, and fundraising.
What it reported doing in 2024
The federation accomplishes its mission by: - identifying common concerns and bringing various segments of our community together to seek solutions. - recruiting and orienting potential leaders and planning for the future needs of a changing jewish community. - raising and allocating funds for the operation of our local jewish federation, agencies that offer social and community services nationally, and needs of jews in over 60 countries around the world. - working diligently to promote a climate of public opinion favorable to jewish needs, issues, and interests. - seeking to strengthen the sense of klal yisrael (jewish peoplehood), through our sponsorship of communal gatherings and publications. - acting as a voice for our local jewish community by our public statements and private diplomacy on issues of concern. - providing resources, whether financial, technical, or human, to help other jewish organizations and/or individuals function most effectively. The federation strives to build a cohesive community, bringing people together to identify what we need to do to be a better community.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Investment-supported. 60% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 64% for direct work, and 36% for grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 81
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 76
- Sustainability: 68
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 89.6%; rating input score 90
- Program expense ratio: 76.4%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $15.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 92.3%; rating input score 92; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 80.6%; rating input score 81; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 85.7%; rating input score 86; 20th 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: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 11.6%; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.99; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 72; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 20.7%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.5% per year; rating input score 100; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 44th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.6% per year; rating input score 100; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 89.6% of revenue deployed · 76.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 12 of 14 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $338K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $40K · 15 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 29 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Review — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 51/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.