Friends of Chevra T'helim

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
542043763
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
Portsmouth, VA, USA
Phone
7573919266
Rating
74
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
History Museums
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$92,452
Expenses
$92,316
Assets
$518,733
Liabilities
$0

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

22 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NORMAN SOROKO (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER PRIEST (EXECUTIVE DI): $26,000 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

To create an environment where visitors can learn about and celebrate jewish history, faith, and culture. Through the use of the historic synagogue structure (formerly, chevra t'helim), the jmcc will serve as a center for education, cultural, and archival events.

What it reported doing in 2025

In addition to being a completely restored orthodox synagogue available for tours and events, the jmcc offers programs throughout the year suitable for all families, regardless of ethnic or religious background. Our "coming to america: an immigration study program" fulfills the Virginia sol for local area schools. Ongoing programs include our music, lecture, and movie series, as well as a significantly expanded immigration exhibit and our growing archives of major jewish entities and persons in the hampton roads area. The organization's annual music series celebrated 15 years of performances. The program has presented four programs each year. Annual chevra cinema series highlights jewish subjects, history, writers, and producers. Each film features a presenter who introduces the film, and leads a relavent discussion following the film. Ongoing tours and programs based around the exhibit on jewish immigrations, the journey to america, and, the jewish contribution to the american culture are offered tot he public and private organizations.

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 - 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 program spending has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 70
  • Sustainability: 48
  • Growth: 20

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.6%; rating input score 83
  • Program expense ratio: 82.2%; rating input score 82
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 2 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 29
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • 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: 0.1%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 5.62; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0; rating input score 66; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 28.2%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -0.4% per year; rating input score 0; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -3.4% per year; rating input score 0; 45th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 0% per year; rating input score 100; 37th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.6% of revenue deployed · 82.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 2 of 7 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $76K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $26K · 22 people listed
  • Consistency: 23 of 23 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • 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: 4 of 6 not reported.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 51/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 54/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 7/100.