Hebrew at the Center

Legal name: Hebrew at the Center Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
392076615
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Westborough, MA, United States
Phone
508-863-3169
Rating
63
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Educational Services and Schools - Other
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,473,782
Expenses
$1,682,489
Assets
$1,333,045
Liabilities
$1,174,924

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

13 people listed

Highest reported compensation

  • ANDREW ERGAS (CHIEF EXECUT): $240,310 total reported compensation
  • ESTHER GROSS (DIRECTOR OF): $192,974 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

At Hebrew at the Center, we work to revolutionize Hebrew language education and engagement as we advocate for Hebrew as a more prominent and intentional feature of Jewish life. Our goals are to professionalize the field, develop tools that enable educators to empower students, set goals, and assess programs, educate institutional leadership, and support Hebrew language advocacy. In the last few years, _Hebrew at the Center_ has expanded its work into the informal Jewish education space with the development of a new approach to Hebrew engagement. Developed jointly with the Jewish Agency for Israel, this pedagogic approach, innovative materials, and effective training have brought Hebrew into more than three dozen camps, Israel experience programs for teens and young adults, and is now being rolled out to year-round settings. The outcome of this work aims to demonstr.

What it reported doing in 2024

Hatc has developed an in-depth in-service professional development program for early childhood through high school program includes workshops in the areas of assessment, methodology, goal setting, lesson planning and differentiated instruction based on more than 20 years of research and experience in hebrew and second-language acquisition. Almost 700 hebrew language educators, representing over 200 schools and serving more than 16,500 students, have participated in these workshops and multi-year mentoring programs tailored to their institutions' missions goals and needs. In the last few years, hatc has expanded its work into the informal jewish education space with the development of a new approach to hebrew engagement. Developed jointly with the jewish agency for israel, this pedagogic approach, innovative materials, and effective training have brought hebrew into more than three dozen camps, israel experience programs for teens and young adults, and is now being rolled out to year-round settings. The outcome of this work aims to demonstrate what is possible, raise expectations, and to bring increased effectiveness, joy, and excitement to hebrew teaching and learning.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 52
  • Transparency & Controls: 64
  • Accountability: 85
  • Sustainability: 18
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.4%; rating input score 61
  • Program expense ratio: 52.9%; rating input score 53
  • Fundraising efficiency: $2.05 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 91.7%; rating input score 92; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 81.8%; rating input score 82; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -14.2%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.79; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.88; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 25.8%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.5% per year; rating input score 100; 49th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 6.3% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: Mission, programs, and operating context captured from the official website.
  • Where the money goes: 61.4% of revenue deployed · 52.9% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 9 of 11 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $890K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $240K · 13 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 26 of 27 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 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.

  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • Review — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 53/100.
  • High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 6/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 35/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.