Jewish Federation of Ventura County
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 953848761
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2023
- Location
- Ventura, CA, USA
- Phone
- 8056477800
- Rating
- 74
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Federated Giving Programs
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $810,234
- Expenses
- $829,060
- Assets
- $8,741,923
- Liabilities
- $2,514,254
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
12 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Cheri Dekofsky (Exec Dir/CEO)
Highest reported compensation
- Cheri Dekofsky (Exec Dir/CEO): $136,279 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
To fund Jewish educational and cultural activities, to provide economic relief and non sectarian social services and fight Antisemitism and BDS wherever encountered. Support for the State of Israel.
What it reported doing in 2024
Provide funding through our umbrella organization, Jewish Federation of North America (JFNA), for programs identified by JFNA in Israel and worldwide including funding for Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and Joint Distribution Committee (JDI), helping to rescue and resettle Jews in peril.Provide funding for social services to victims of terror and to rebuild devastated communities throughout Israel since October 7, 2023. Advocate for Israel with government officials to ensure support in Congress for the survival of the Jewish State.Monitor antisemitic curriculum in school districts, support Jewish students on college campuses, represent and advocate for the Jewish and interfaith communities for security initiatives to protect our community from harm.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 67% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 93% 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 - 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 revenue has declined or grown slowly.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 74
- Transparency & Controls: 85
- Accountability: 70
- Sustainability: 46
- Growth: 60
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 96.4%; rating input score 96
- Program expense ratio: 59.7%; rating input score 60
- Fundraising efficiency: $1.37 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 4; 4th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 24th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: 77.3%; rating input score 77; 34th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 66.7%; rating input score 67; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 6 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 75
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- 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: -2.3%; rating input score 29; 29th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 10.54; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.29; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 16.4%; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 0.5% per year; rating input score 100; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.5% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 5.2% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 96.4% of revenue deployed · 59.7% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 8 of 12 board members independent · 6 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $495K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $136K · 12 people listed
- Consistency: 31 of 33 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors and grants
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 3 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 4/100.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 29/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Independent financial-statement audit not reported.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 20/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.