Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
910575950
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Seattle, WA, United States
Phone
2064435400
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Federated Giving Programs
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$14,685,439
Expenses
$8,482,947
Assets
$100,260,480
Liabilities
$11,900,401

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

Leadership & pay

33 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • SOLOMON P KANE (PRESIDENT & CEO)

Highest reported compensation

  • SOLOMON P KANE (PRESIDENT & CEO): $273,619 total reported compensation
  • SAMUEL KLEIN (DIRECTOR OF JEWISH ENGAGEMENT): $205,909 total reported compensation
  • MAXIMA PATASHNIK (DIRECTOR OF JCRC AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS): $139,751 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 Federation leads a strong Jewish Puget Sound by serving as a community voice, strengthening connections to Israel and World Jewry, and making investments in Jewish life, for today and the next generation. Founded in 1928, the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle has always been a pillar of strength, connection, and support for our local Jewish community and Jews around the world. From rescuing Holocaust survivors in the 1940s to welcoming Ethiopian and Russian immigrants in the 1980s and 1990s, and launching major relief efforts like the 2022 Ukraine Challenge, our story has always been about meeting the moment with heart, resilience, and collective action. That mission continues today with renewed urgency. Since the devastating attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Federation has stepped up in powerful new ways—raising over $1.6 million in emergency aid, standing with...

What it reported doing in 2024

Community services: the federation provides a range of programs for the community. The federation's jewish community relations council (jcrc) brings together and mobilizes the local jewish community on critical issues, amplifying the collective voice for institutional members and individual leaders. The jcrc's core work includes programming to address antisemitism, bigotry, and racism, supporting a peaceful, secure, jewish, and democratic state of israel, fostering positive and meaningful relations with other communities and public officials, and strengthening our jewish communities through cohesion and civil discourse. The federation operates the jewish community security program, safe Washington, and leverages close working relationships with law enforcement to provide community security services to jewish organizations statewide, including a robust communications network, training and resources, and risk assessment. The jewish community foundation of greater seattle (the foundation), a program of the federation, partners with community organizations and philanthropists by stewarding funds, including donor-advised, special-purpose, agency custodial, and scholarship funds. These funds support jewish and secular organizations, distributing grants and allocations in the puget sound region, the u.s., and overseas. The federation provides grants to local organizations and synagogues through its special initiatives fund. Grants include 1) ignition grants for new, one time, or pilot projects 2) small agency sustainability grants, providing operational support for small jewish agencies and 3) women's endowment fund grants, supporting programs empowering and improving the lives of women and girls in our region.

Operating model

Revenue model
Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 42% for direct work, and 58% for grants.
  • 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 reported officer compensation is a large share of total spending, which may reflect staffing concentration.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 68
  • Transparency & Controls: 69
  • Accountability: 100
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 69%; rating input score 69
  • Program expense ratio: 77.1%; rating input score 77
  • Fundraising efficiency: $7.86 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 88.2%; rating input score 88; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Limited
    • Conducts field audits: Limited
    • May suspend future funding: Limited
    • Requires financial reports: Limited
    • Conducts site visits: Limited
    • Requires grant agreements: Limited
    • May require repayment: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: 92.8%; rating input score 93; 22nd 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: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
    • 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: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: 42.2%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 11.82; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 70; 70th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.4%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 12th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 5.1% per year; rating input score 100; 36th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 2 operating locations identified
  • Where the money goes: 69% of revenue deployed · 77.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 27 of 27 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $6.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $274K · 33 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $326K reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 43 current checks pass · 3 findings to review
  • Schedules: 12 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 16 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 61 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 55 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 32/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 19/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Schedule R controlled transactions itemized did not reconcile in the filed values.