Jewish Community Foundation
Legal name: Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 436049281
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2015–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Overland Park, KS, United States
- Phone
- (913) 327-8245
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Community Foundations
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $34,327,486
- Expenses
- $22,679,190
- Assets
- $318,349,058
- Liabilities
- $196,218,627
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
47 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- FRANK LIPSMAN (PRESIDENT)
- JOSEPH HIERSTEINER (FIRST VICE PRESIDENT)
- MARTHA GERSHUN (VICE PRESIDENT)
- DAVID GOODMAN (VICE PRESIDENT)
- LINDA LYON (VICE PRESIDENT)
- BRIAN SCHARF (VICE PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- RITA CORTES (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR-MENORAH HERITAGE FOUNDATION): $209,158 total reported compensation
- JOSHUA STEIN (PRESIDENT & CEO/SECRETARY): $203,001 total reported compensation
- KEVIN TAYLOR (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $138,692 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The mission of the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Kansas City is to promote the practice of tzedakah (charity) and the pursuit of tikkun olam (repairing the world) by serving as the advocate for planned giving and the central resource for personalized charitable funds for individuals, families, and organizations in the community.
What it reported doing in 2024
Grants to IRS approved charities
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 94% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 96% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 77
- Transparency & Controls: 84
- Accountability: 90
- Sustainability: 82
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 64.1%; rating input score 64
- Program expense ratio: 95.4%; rating input score 95
- Fundraising efficiency: $202.45 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th 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: 73.9%; rating input score 74; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 97.8%; rating input score 98; 31st percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 33.9%; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 14.04; rating input score 94; 94th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.62; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.7%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 0% per year; rating input score 100; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.5% per year; rating input score 100; 26th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 64.1% of revenue deployed · 95.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 44 of 45 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $21.6M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $209K · 47 people listed · 5 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 34 of 35 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
- Filing history: 9 filing years from 2015 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 562 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 569 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.
- 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.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 21/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.