Jewish Federation of St. Louis

What it reported doing in 2024

Jewish federation of st. Louis provides a variety of jewish engagement, jewish education, and operational support services for individual and organizations in the st. Louis jewish community. The mission of our work is to build and strengthen community by connecting people to information, resources, services, and each other. We do this through a variety of programs and services designed to support and engage adult learners, families with young children, schools and congregations, young adults, those traveling to israel, developing community leaders, seniors aging in place, and much more. Jewish federation of st. Louis supports the work of our jewish community through millstone leadership initiatives by engaging new leaders and welcoming new professional staff, providing training and individualized coaching, and strengthening connections among both professionals and lay leaders of jewish organizations, schools, and congregations. Jprostl, an initiative of the jewish federation of st. Louis, is a professional association bringing together staff who work at organizations, congregations, and day schools across the spectrum of the st. Louis jewish community. Jprostl provides professional development, sharing of resources, and networking events throughout the year. In 2024, 750 professionals were working at local jewish organizations; almost half of those professionals engaged with jprostl. Eighty-eight percent of participants in jprostl report gaining or deepening new skills or knowledge to enhance their work. Israel center offers consulting services to help identify meaningful trips or missions that best meet the needs and interests of community members. Israel center also offers teens and young adults funding through need-based and incentive-based scholarships and grants to ease the cost of a quality israel experiences, connects adults and families with travel opportunities offered through local synagogues and organizations, and trips in partnership with the jewish federations of north america. Israel center also organizes a variety of exclusive experiences for special cohorts. The pj library is an international jewish family engagement program designed to strengthen the identities of jewish families and their relationship to the jewish community. The pj library offers free, high-quality jewish books and music each month to over 100,000 children between birth and 12 years old in more than 175 communities in the united states, canada and israel. Pj library's vision is to inspire family engagement in jewish life, stronger jewish identity and deeper connections to jewish community. The pj library initiative is building a stronger jewish people, one book at a time. Pj library aims to help families explore the timeless core values of judaism and to transmit these values to the next generation - creating a jewish literacy for this generation and laying a strong foundation for the ones to come. Pj library impacts families beyond the books they receive at home by connecting families to the jewish community here in st. Louis, and enriching local jewish programming. In 2024, more than 2,200 families participated in the st. Louis pj library program. The st. Louis federation community security program seeks to understand, manage, and reduce risk to the st. Louis jewish community. In 2024, the community security program conducted over 113 security training courses to over 674 people and supported 692 organizations with physical and cyber security requests. The community security program covers the st. Louis metropolitan area as well as jefferson city, columbia, lake of the ozarks, springfield and joplin. Out of state areas covered include: western ky (paducah) and southern il (carbondale, makanda, benton, belleville, edwardsville).

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 88.4%; rating input score 88
• Program expense ratio: 72.8%; rating input score 73
• Fundraising efficiency: $4.51 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd 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: Missing
  • Compensation survey or study: Pass
  • 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: 95.4%; rating input score 95; 25th percentile among comparable filings
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

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: -6.7%; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 7.17; rating input score 88; 88th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.27; rating input score 49; 49th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 6.1%; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 23rd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: 0.7% per year; rating input score 100; 11th percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: 2.5% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings