Jewish Council for Youth Services

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
362193616
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Chicago, IL, USA
Phone
3127268891
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Youth Development – Religious Leadership
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,540,618
Expenses
$13,506,595
Assets
$17,705,718
Liabilities
$3,018,940

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

Leadership & pay

32 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SAMANTHA JAKUBOWSKI (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)
  • JOSH BEREN (PRESIDENT)
  • CARLY SCHWARTZ NEWMAN (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
  • IRINE SORSER TURIN (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT (THRU 01/25))
  • MAX FARGOTSTEIN (PRESIDENT-ELECT)

Highest reported compensation

  • CATHERINE CARLO (CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER): $216,414 total reported compensation
  • SONYA SOLOMON PIELL (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $193,273 total reported compensation
  • SAMANTHA JAKUBOWSKI (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $168,645 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Guided by jewish values and culture, jewish council for youth services provides educational and recreational programs for chicagoland's children and through board service, develops the next generation of jewish civic leaders.

What it reported doing in 2024

The leadership development boot camp ("boot camp") is an annual one-day intensive training program in partnership with northwestern university kellogg school of management (kellogg). Kellogg customizes the curriculum with the jcys ceo, resulting in four personalized sessions led by kellogg faculty that provide board members and designates with the skills and knowledge to effectively fulfill their responsibilities as members of the jcys board of directors and to be better prepared to serve as leaders within the jewish community. Boot camp takes place at northwestern's downtown campus and part of the training is open to board alumni and key staff, to encourage continuous learning for more experienced leaders. It began in 2019 as part of the visioning of the leadership circle, a directed path of leadership identification, recruitment, and development to the part of jcys' mission of training young jewish leaders through board service. The program did not operate for the fiscal year end may 31, 2025 but will resume in fiscal year 2026.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 90% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Direct operator. The filing allocates 99% 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

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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 77
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 42
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 79.8%; rating input score 80
  • Program expense ratio: 81.2%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $3.34 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: 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: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th 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: Fail
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 0.3%; rating input score 34; 34th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.31; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.17; rating input score 63; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5.5%; rating input score 47; 47th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.7% per year; rating input score 100; 16th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 79.8% of revenue deployed · 81.2% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 26 of 26 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $11M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $216K · 32 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 38 of 39 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 9 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
  • 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 13/100.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 34/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 46/100.
  • Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 47/100.