Ish Festival C/o Marie Krulewitch

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
832433747
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2019
Location
Cincinnati, OH, USA
Phone
3176700104
Rating
79
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Affiliation
Judaism

Reported finances

Revenue
$336,380
Expenses
$473,417
Assets
$113,327
Liabilities
$20,983

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • NEAL JACOBS (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • MARIE KRULEWITCH-BROWNE (EXEC DIR): $80,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Ish is a cincinnati-based community engagement organization centering jewish arts and cultural traditions as a platform for connecting artists with communities to create new experiences, inspire pride in jewish and intersectional identity, and foster appreciation of cincinnati history and jewish peoplehood. Ish is a disruptor, adapter, and instigator of social-cultural change. We are a movement for creative expression, inclusion, human-centered design, and cross-cultural collaboration, to strengthen community connections and improve our quality of life. Whether jewish, jew-ish, (or just here for the matzah!), ish brings people together in artistic and cultural exploration, and through that exploration, builds understanding.

What it reported doing in 2024

Blink- curated and produced light art parade for blink city wide light art event. Worked with schools, arts organizations and artists to create costumes, floats and performances for opening night of blink

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 82
  • Transparency & Controls: 92
  • Accountability: 77
  • Sustainability: 12
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 80.1%; rating input score 80
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: 87.5%; rating input score 88; 24th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -40.7%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.24; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.19; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.9%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -16.9% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 8.5% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 13.1% per year; rating input score 100; 74th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 80.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 7 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $379K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $80K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 13/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 22/100.