Hillel International
Legal name: Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 521844823
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Washington, DC, USA
- Phone
- 2024496520
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Judaism
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $72,798,273
- Expenses
- $69,512,747
- Assets
- $76,015,282
- Liabilities
- $6,511,858
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
26 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- ADAM LEHMAN (PRESIDENT & CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- ADAM LEHMAN (PRESIDENT & CEO): $731,633 total reported compensation
- DAN SMOKLER (CHIEF INNOVATION OFFICER): $384,876 total reported compensation
- SARA FRIED (CHIEF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS OFFICER): $373,086 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Enriching the lives of Jewish students so that they may enrich the Jewish people and the world. Our Values To achieve our mission and vision, our work focuses on core facets of Jewish life including Jewish learning, holiday and Shabbat celebration, arts and culture and building a meaningful, ongoing relationship with Israel. Hillel supports students’ spiritual growth and wellness, promotes leadership development and empowers students to make an impact on the broader community. Hillel builds relationships that promote understanding among diverse groups, advocates for Jewish students, and strives to ensure a safe and supportive atmosphere on campus. B’tzelem Elohim | _In the Divine Image_.
What it reported doing in 2024
Hillel's israel action and addressing antisemitism program (iap) is a leading provider of israel education and engagement on college campuses, equipping students to navigate an increasingly challenging environment. As anti-israel and antisemitic activity take on more overt and exclusionary forms, iap provides ongoing support for campuses facing crises while also creating opportunities for positive israel engagement through broad-reaching programs and experiences. Through proactive programming, crisis response, and post-crisis support, iap strengthens campus hillels and fosters a sense of community among pro-israel students. By building comprehensive israel engagement plans and providing critical resources, iap ensures that jewish students feel empowered to express their identity and advocate for israel. Through these efforts, iap helps create a new generation of student activists who confidently support israel while maintaining connections with their broader campus communities. The hillel international israel leadership network (iln) empowers a new generation of top israel focused student leaders across north american campuses through education, advocacy, and community engagement. By providing comprehensive training and resources, iln equips students to effectively counter anti-israel narratives, foster meaningful dialogue, and create vibrant israel-focused programming on their respective campuses. Iln membership empowers hundreds of campus hillels with strong leaders who mobilize peers in support of israel and the jewish community.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 87% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 75% for direct work, and 25% for grants.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and expenses are high relative to revenue.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 75
- Transparency & Controls: 72
- Accountability: 92
- Sustainability: 50
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 78.3%; rating input score 78
- Program expense ratio: 81%; rating input score 81
- Fundraising efficiency: $8.66 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 28th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Pass
- 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
- Requires narrative reports: Limited
- Conducts field audits: Limited
- May suspend future funding: Limited
- Requires financial reports: Limited
- Conducts site visits: Limited
- Requires grant agreements: Limited
- May require repayment: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 99.4%; rating input score 99; 40th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 94.1%; rating input score 94; 45th 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: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 4.5%; rating input score 54; 54th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.09; rating input score 43; 43rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.09; rating input score 84; 84th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.4%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 7.9% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 7.7% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 4.4% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 78.3% of revenue deployed · 81% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 10 filed program accomplishments · $56.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $732K · 26 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.2M reported
- Consistency: 39 of 40 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 175 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 164 filed related-organization links
- 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.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 38/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 54/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 43/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 14/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.