Foundation for Jewish Culture Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 131927751
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2013
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2013
- Location
- New York, NY, USA
- Phone
- 2125327171
- Rating
- 70
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Cultural, Ethnic Awareness
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $2,249,216
- Expenses
- $3,117,870
- Assets
- $3,387,616
- Liabilities
- $291,777
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
19 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ELISE BERNHARDT (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- ELISE BERNHARDT (PRESIDENT & CEO): $182,083 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2013. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The foundation for jewish culture, inc. Invests in creative individuals in order to nurture a vibrant and enduring jewish identity, culture and community, through the provision of grants, recognition awards, networking opportunities and professional development services.
What it reported doing in 2013
The foundation for jewish culture, inc. Supports artists and scholars with grants and recognition awards. We collaborate with cultural institutions, jewish organizations, consortia and funders to support the work of these creative individuals. Grant supports include the lynn and jules kroll fund for jewish documentary film, the maurice and the marylin cohen fund for doctoral dissertation fellowships in jewish studies and the samuel goldberg and sons foundation prize for jewish fiction by emerging writers.in the arts, we run a project called the six points fellowship, which supported artists in New York and los angeles in 2013. The two-year fellowship provides artists in visual arts, performing arts, music, dance, film and video with support to create new work with jewish themes.a key component of the foundation for jewish culture's service is to create networking venues and professional development opportunities for artists and scholars, while nurturing emerging artists and organizations engaged in actitivies that fall within the foundation's mission. Networking and program development activities include the american academy in jerusalem, which places fellows in an intensive program and builds relationships in israel and in the united states, and the new jewish culture network, which commissions and tours music projects, and subsidizes performing arts presenters.the fiscal sponsorship program offers organizational guidance and financial services to twelve organizations and artists annually.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 93% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 48% for direct work, and 52% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and most voting board members are independent. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 51
- Accountability: 97
- Sustainability: 28
- Growth: NotEnoughData
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 79.3%; rating input score 79
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.6 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
- Compensation committee: Missing
- 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: Scored; rating input score 0
- Grant itemization coverage: 17.9%; rating input score 18; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 94.7%; rating input score 95; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 8 of 8 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: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -38.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 71; 71st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.8%; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: Limited
- Revenue growth: Limited
- Asset growth: Limited
Details
- What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79.3% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 18 of 19 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.5M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $182K · 19 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 35 of 36 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 18/100.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 20/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 47/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 40/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.