Jewish Blind of California Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
237110164
IRS 990 coverage
2019–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Los Angeles, CA, USA
Phone
3234678033
Rating
66
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Eye Diseases, Blindness and Vision Impairments
Affiliation
Judaism

Reported finances

Revenue
$6,135
Expenses
$54,150
Assets
$2,459,244
Liabilities
$39,053

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

Leadership & pay

3 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Zena Reubel (President)
  • Laura Russell (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Pamela Barron (Exec Director): $18,480 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Aiding the blind in Southern California

What it reported doing in 2024

The Jewish Blind of California is a non-profit organization dedicated to the needs of the vision impaired citizens of the greater Los Angeles region. The organization's activities include senior nutrition programs, speakers, holiday celebrations and other events.Specific activities held during 2024 included (with Covid limitations)-Provided weekly free hot lunches with entertainment and speakers.-Monthly Sunday program with music.-Transportation to events and shopping for house bound individuals.-Special events and luncheons were celebrated.-Passover Seder at the Center.-Halloween luncheon with costumes and prizes and live entertainment.-Thanksgiving dinner with entertainment.-Classes in Braille, Spanish and an exercise hour (LIVE)-Mothers Day Party at a Chinese Restaurant.-August Cookout party with Live singer-New year's January celebration at San Antonio Winery-July Luncheon at San Antonio Winery.-Provided classes for Iphone usage.-Valentines Day party with live music.-Christmas and Holiday parties-Shopping program to local markets and administered the voucher program.-Hanukah Dinners and celebrations with a Rabbi to celebrate the meaning of Hanukah.-Demonstrations of Iphone capabilities for the blind-Nutritionist Chef spoke about healthy eating.-Implemented Free ACCESS Transportation Services for Members-Home Delivery of N95 Masks to Members-We have a house band 2 members are blind and they play at all our parties now. They are called "After Dark". They just played at our Halloween party. Played twice in 2024.-We attended the audio-described performance of The Wiz at the Pantages and The Strange Loop at the Ahmanson.In addition, there is a monthly newsletter and specific advise is provided in areas of housing, medical needs and voting registration, computer classes, reading of mail and paying of bills.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 100% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 53% for direct work, and 47% for member benefits.

The verdict

SUPPORTED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of total spending goes to programs and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 82
  • Accountability: 58
  • Sustainability: 34
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 25.3%; rating input score 25
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 18th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: Limited
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Limited
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Other executive compensation review process: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
    • Audit committee oversight: Missing
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -782.6%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 45.42; rating input score 91; 91st percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 34.1%; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: -12.3% per year; rating input score 0; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.4% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.5% per year; rating input score 0; 33rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 25.3% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 5 of 3 board members independent · 0 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $14K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $18K · 3 people listed
  • Consistency: 18 of 19 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 3 filed schedules
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2019 to 2024
  • 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: Program expense ratio scored 25/100.
  • High — Accountability: Governance controls: 7 of 7 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 6/100.
  • High — Growth: Program expense growth scored 0/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Independent members within voting members did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 9/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.