GrowTorah
Legal name: Growtorah Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 823282925
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2019–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2018, Form 990-N 2017
- Location
- Teaneck, NJ, USA
- Phone
- 8016137478
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Garden Club, Horticultural Program
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $631,868
- Expenses
- $1,103,537
- Assets
- $70,352
- Liabilities
- $112,379
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
9 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ORA SHEINSON (PRESIDENT)
- YOSEF GILLERS (FOUNDER & CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
- SARA JUST-MICHAEL (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR)
Highest reported compensation
- SARA JUST-MICHAEL (CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $118,436 total reported compensation
- YOSEF GILLERS (FOUNDER & CO-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR): $113,109 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
GrowTorah aims to cultivate a more passionate, compassionate and sustainable future driven by Torah values. Purple Amaranth leave.jpg. Our flagship Shorashim Partnership program has us manage and teach in 19 garden programs at 18 Jewish Day Schools. GrowTorah's national Anafim program is active in 12 schools, and several summer camps, across the USA. GrowTorah curates educational garden experiences that help participants explore relevant Jewish values and Torah lessons, and learn the fundamentals of gardening and land stewardship. The Torah lessons interwoven with the educational garden experiences inspire participants to navigate the complex relationships between humans, their fellow creatures, and the earth, and encourage participants to connect with these values in powerful and personally meaningful ways. Our Vision.
What it reported doing in 2024
The torah garden programs enables participants to explore relevant jewish values and torah lessons while learning the fundamentals of gardening, farming, and planting.
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
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 total assets are small relative to annual expenses; liquid coverage is unknown.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 80
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 87
- Sustainability: 4
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 73.8%; rating input score 74
- 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: 77.8%; rating input score 78; 17th 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: -74.6%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.06; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 1.6; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 21%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 26.6% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 25% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 26.3% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 73.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 7 of 9 board members independent · 8 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $815K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $118K · 9 people listed
- Consistency: 28 of 28 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 filed money-flow records
- 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 2/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 3/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.