L'Chaim Center
Legal name: L Chaim Center for Inspired Living Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 263325373
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2014–2017
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2017, Form 990-EZ 2013
- Location
- Deerfield, IL, USA
- Phone
- (847) 282-0369
- Rating
- 43
- Verdict
- MIXED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Judaism
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $341,954
- Expenses
- $258,994
- Assets
- $467,596
- Liabilities
- $5,023
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
7 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- DAVID BEGOUN (PRESIDENT)
Highest reported compensation
- DAVID BEGOUN (PRESIDENT): $38,500 total reported compensation
- ALEXANDRA BEGOUN (BOARD MEMBER): $11,000 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2017. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
L'Chaim Center describes itself as a warm, welcoming Jewish community in Deerfield, IL offering Torah learning and Shabbat celebration, emphasizing “no prior knowledge” and “no judgment.”. Eve is a beloved educator whose classes inspire women from all backgrounds. Together, they've helped hundreds of individuals and families discover the depth and joy of Jewish learning on the North Shore. Meet with Rabbi Gadi & Eve → ✡️Our Mission & ValuesWhat drives everything we do🤝Our TeamThe people behind L'Chaim🏛️Executive BoardLeadership and governance💎Women's BoardN'Shei L'Chaim leaders. ✡️Our Mission & ValuesWhat drives everything we do🤝Our TeamThe people behind L'Chaim🏛️Executive BoardLeadership and governance💎Women's BoardN'Shei L'Chaim leaders What to Expect Your Questions, Answered.
What it reported doing in 2017
Israel trip. The organization leads a group of attendees to israel to live and learn jewish values. From the organization's website: men, join rabbi david this summer and women, join ali in november, for an unforgettable momentum trip to israel with jwrp. It's like birthright for adults a highly subsidized program which offers a remarkable gift: a nine-day experience to israel that informs and inspires through living and learning jewish values.these are two outstanding growth opportunities for jewish women and men living on the north shore.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 86% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Direct operator. The filing allocates 94% 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
MIXED - The filed numbers largely add up and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of available resources goes toward mission work and a relatively small share of total spending goes to programs.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 25
- Transparency & Controls: 68
- Accountability: 22
- Sustainability: 65
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 25.2%; rating input score 25
- Program expense ratio: 33.2%; rating input score 33
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 11th percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: Limited
- Foreign activity oversight: Limited
- Grant itemization coverage: Limited
- Major donor itemization: No; rating input score 0
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 28.6%; rating input score 29; 13th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 1 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 12
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Fail
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- CEO compensation review process: Fail
- Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 24.3%; rating input score 82; 82nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 1.81; rating input score 58; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.01; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 19.1%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 19.8% per year; rating input score 100; 86th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 19.1% per year; rating input score 100; 88th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 28.7% per year; rating input score 100; 91st percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 25.2% of revenue deployed · 33.2% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 2 of 7 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 4 filed program accomplishments · $86K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $38K · 7 people listed
- Consistency: 22 of 23 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 3 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2014 to 2017
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 4 filed money-flow records
- 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: Mission deployment rate scored 25/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Program expense ratio scored 33/100.
- High — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 29/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
- High — Transparency & Controls: Major donor itemization scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 58/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.
- Review — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 55/100.