Jewish Federation Cemetery Corporation
Legal name: Jewish Federation Of Greater Buffalo Cemetery Corporation
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 161157277
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2010–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- Williamsville, NY, United States
- Phone
- 716-463-5050
- Rating
- 78
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $336,414
- Expenses
- $248,382
- Assets
- $1,523,820
- Liabilities
- $80,327
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
16 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- CHARLOTTE GENDLER (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
- JONATHAN SCHECHTER (PRESIDENT/TREASURER)
People named in this filing
- CHARLOTTE GENDLER (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
- HARVEY LICHTBLAU (TRUSTEE)
- JERRY CARREL (TRUSTEE)
Selected names, not a complete roster or a statement of current roles. Open leadership details for the complete filed list.
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The Jewish Federation Cemetery Corporation owns and maintains ten Jewish cemeteries. We are a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing a home for Western New York Jewish cemeteries whose founding synagogues and shuls have ceased to exist. Raising and distributing funding to support Jewish life locally, in Israel, and around the world. We convene and represent Jewish Buffalo: Convening Jewish agencies and forging partnerships with civic, legislative, business and faith partners. Educating, advocating, and serving as the voice of Jewish Buffalo in the broader community. We weave threads of Jewish connection: Creating welcoming opportunities for Jews and their loved ones to celebrate, learn, explore, and connect with Jewish life, Jewish people, Jewish ideas, Israel and Jewish community in meaningful ways.
What it reported doing in 2024
Care and maintenance of cemetery grounds and sites
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 77% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 100% 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.
The verdict
SUPPORTED - The filed numbers largely add up and a large share of available resources goes toward mission work. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 63
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 88
- Sustainability: 73
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 64.2%; rating input score 64
- Program expense ratio: 83.4%; rating input score 83
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 7 controls in place; rating input score 71
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 26.2%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 6.13; rating input score 83; 83rd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.05; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0%; rating input score 69; 69th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 73rd percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.1% per year; rating input score 100; 69th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.7% per year; rating input score 100; 50th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
- Where the money goes: 64.2% of revenue deployed · 83.4% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 16 of 16 board members independent · 5 of 7 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $207K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $0 · 16 people listed
- Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2010 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: Resolved incoming and outgoing counterparties from filed money flows.
- Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
- 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: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.