Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington
Legal name: Hebrew Free Loan Association of DC
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 530227814
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Silver Spring, MD, United States
- Phone
- 301.859.0346
- Rating
- 66
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Financial Institutions
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,014,421
- Expenses
- $195,849
- Assets
- $2,542,596
- Liabilities
- $72,786
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Shuli Tropp (Executive Director)
- Naomi Malka (Past President)
- Judith Bartnoff (President)
- Amy Sukol (Vice President)
Highest reported compensation
- Shuli Tropp (Executive Director): $52,088 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The site states it provides interest-free loans to qualified members of the DC area Jewish community, grounded in Exodus 22:24 ("do not act toward them as a creditor: Exact no interest"), and delivered with dignity. Historian Shelley Tenenbaum notes that Hebrew loan societies were “based on the biblical and Talmudic concept of providing the Jewish poor with interest-free loans.” Maimonides considered the interest-free loan among the higher forms of tzedakah because it respects the dignity of the borrower, provides him with a means of self-sufficiency, and does not saddle him with large debt. At their peak, more than 500 Jewish free loan societies operated throughout the United States. In 1920 alone, the New York Hebrew Free Loan Society distributed more than one million dollars in loans to Jewish-owned small businesses. The societies restricted themselves to meeting the capital needs...
What it reported doing in 2025
In 2025, the Hebrew Free Loan Association of Greater Washington provided more than $1 million in interest-free loans to help members of the DC metro area Jewish community in need of financial support. These loans helped community members with a wide variety of needs including consolidating debt, covering medical expenses and building families through fertility treatments and adoption. In addition, in 2025, HFL provided loans to Federal employees who were furloughed and unemployment loans for those who lost their jobs.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 100% 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. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 25
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 80
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 8.8%; rating input score 9
- Program expense ratio: 45.4%; rating input score 45
- Fundraising efficiency: $16.03 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
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: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- 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: 80.7%; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.98; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.03; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 26.6%; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 12.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 25.4% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 8.8% of revenue deployed · 45.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 15 of 15 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $89K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $52K · 16 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 22 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 15 filing years from 2011 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 — Financial Efficiency: Mission deployment rate scored 9/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 45/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 49/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: CEO compensation review process not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 10/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 49/100.