Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles

Legal name: Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters Association of Los Angeles

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
951691009
IRS 990 coverage
2014–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Los Angeles, CA, United States
Phone
(323) 761-8675
Rating
82
Verdict
STRONG
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Human Services
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$5,713,008
Expenses
$6,165,012
Assets
$8,767,889
Liabilities
$1,484,112

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

Leadership & pay

56 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SANDY SIGAL (PRESIDENT)
  • ALEXANDER KOZAKOV (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • JONATHAN LURIE (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • SHOSHANA HIMMEL (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • CARI USLAN (CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • CARI USLAN (CEO): $289,197 total reported compensation
  • JANET GILMORE (SENIOR VP OF PHILANTHROPY): $163,746 total reported compensation
  • MEGAN LYNN KOEHLER (VP OF MENTORING SERVICES): $144,436 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

To assist youth in achieving their full potential through innovative, impactful mentorship programs. Reporting to the President of the Board and working closely with the Executive Committee and Board of Directors, the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) serves as the strategic and operational leader of Jewish Big Brothers Big Sisters of Los Angeles (JBBBSLA), responsible for advancing the organization’s mission, including strategic planning, strengthening organizational performance, expanding community impact, and fostering a positive and collaborative work culture. The CEO oversees all aspects of the organization, including mentoring services, Camp Bob Waldorf, college access and scholarship programs, fundraising, finance, and administration, while partnering closely with staff, donors, and comm.

What it reported doing in 2024

Mentoring services: jewish big brothers big sisters mentoring programs - community-based mentoring brings positive jewish adult role models, known as "big brothers and big sisters," into the lives of underserved jewish youth, known as "little brothers and little sisters," ages 6-18. Matches are overseen by trained professionals who oversee the screening, training, and monitoring of the matches on a regular basis. Scholarship programs - the jbbbsla scholarship program offers financial assistance to graduating, former little brothers and little sisters who seek higher education, and the arnold s. Nelson scholarship program awards scholarships to graduates of the witherbee wilderness backpacking program in need of financial assistance to go to college. The rising leader scholarship program awards cit and teen camp participants with financial assistance towards higher education.college guidance program - the jbbbsla college guidance program, known as the erwin rautenberg college guidance program, serves over 150 non-denominational youth in support of their aspirations for postsecondary education. The program serves youth from 9th grade through college. Participants are recommended to the program after participating in the jbbbsla youth mentoring program, or after attending camp bob waldorf. Teen talk - teen talk is a cutting-edge technology platform that uses a cell phone application (app) to deliver personalized social and emotional support to teens in crisis. The app has provided support to over 35,000 teenage youth from around the world. The teen advisors participate in a fifty-hour training program prior to providing support on the app. The teen advisors are supported by clinical social workers who monitor the virtual conversations.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 65% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

The verdict

STRONG - 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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 76
  • Transparency & Controls: 96
  • Accountability: 91
  • Sustainability: 30
  • Growth: 60

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 85.5%; rating input score 85
  • Program expense ratio: 77.6%; rating input score 78
  • Fundraising efficiency: $6.17 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 5 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 83
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Pass
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • 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: -7.9%; rating input score 16; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.42; rating input score 50; 50th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 48; 48th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 13.6%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 31st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -2% per year; rating input score 0; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 85.5% of revenue deployed · 77.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 50 of 50 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $4.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $289K · 56 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 38 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 10 filing years from 2014 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 5 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.
  • 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 22/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 16/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 50/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 48/100.