Jewish Education Center of Cleveland

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
340714554
IRS 990 coverage
2020–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Cleveland Hts, OH, USA
Phone
2163710446
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Judaism
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$13,239,320
Expenses
$9,021,909
Assets
$19,344,965
Liabilities
$1,935,830

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

Leadership & pay

53 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Marlyn Bloch Jaffe (Chief Executive Officer)
  • Jared Miller (President)
  • Erica Lazzaro (Vice President)
  • Sharon Rosenbaum (Vice President)
  • Neil Waxman (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Marlyn Bloch Jaffe (Chief Executive Officer): $338,073 total reported compensation
  • Laurie Hardesty (Chief Financial Officer): $244,930 total reported compensation
  • Yossi Israeli (Chief Information Officer): $204,195 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 Education Center of Cleveland is to inspire transformative Jewish educational experiences that add meaning to the lives of Jewish children and their families in Cleveland. The first Strategic Priority Area focuses on expanding engagement opportunities to meet the varied needs and interests of community members and to attract unserved or underserved populations. The second Strategic Priority Area is about ensuring that the Jewish learning experiences supported by the JEC are high-quality Jewish learning experiences in which people are interested in participating. The third Strategic Priority Area is centered on teachers - teacher recruitment, support, satisfaction and retention. The JEC recognizes that teachers are the linchpin in Jewish education and strives to be a leader in having the best teachers who are committed to teaching in the Cleveland Jewish commun.

What it reported doing in 2024

Personnel Development: Educators services program enriches the skills, Judaic and professional knowledge of community educators through myriad mini courses and on line courses. Intensive on site professional development that fosters professional learning teams. Tuition subsidies and scholarships for college degrees and professional development seminars for professional growth with a new degree, license or certificate. 245 educators received stipends. This program also supports day school educator positions. The agency works with a local professional development committee serving general studies teachers in the Cleveland area affiliated day schools. The committee reviews and approves license applications, individual professional development plans and associate course request to ensure the general studies teachers maintain their Ohio licenses and certificates.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 93% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 56% for direct work, and 44% for grants.

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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 64
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 70
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 61.5%; rating input score 62
  • Program expense ratio: 89.6%; rating input score 90
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: Pass
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 99.9%; rating input score 100; 39th 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: 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: 31.9%; rating input score 89; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.14; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 16.8%; rating input score 6; 6th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 6.9% per year; rating input score 100; 55th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 14% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 12.2% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 61.5% of revenue deployed · 89.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 46 of 46 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 13 filed program accomplishments · $8.1M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $338K · 53 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 39 of 39 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 5 filing years from 2020 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 41 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 34 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.

Key Signals

Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Form 990 shared with the board not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 6/100.