Jewish Cemetery Association of Massachusetts
Legal name: Lindwood Memorial Park Inc C/o Jewish Cemetary Association of Ma
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 043156779
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2018
- Official website data refreshed
- Aug 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2018
- Location
- Needham, MA, United States
- Phone
- 617-244-6509
- Rating
- 64
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Parks and Playgrounds
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $83,883
- Expenses
- $149,257
- Assets
- $344,331
- Liabilities
- $34,864
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
2 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- EDWARD NOVAKOFF (PRESIDENT TILL 1/19)
Highest reported compensation
- LISA NOVAKOFF (TREASURER): $1,225 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2018. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
JCAM functions as a burial society for the Jewish communities of Massachusetts, honoring the dead in accordance with Jewish religious practices, and is committed to the maintenance and security of existing and abandoned cemeteries under its care, including education for the public about Jewish cemeteries in Massachusetts.
What it reported doing in 2018
Sale of cemetery plots along with opening and closing of gravesites and the care and maintenance of cemetery property.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Earned-program. 97% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
- 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 - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 82
- Transparency & Controls: 90
- Accountability: 5
- Sustainability: 26
- Growth: 40
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 79.6%; rating input score 80
- Fundraising efficiency: Limited
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 0%; rating input score 0; 9th 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: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Fail
- Form 990 shared with the board: Fail
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -77.9%; rating input score 22; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 2.31; rating input score 38; 38th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.1; rating input score 20; 20th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 0.8%; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.8% per year; rating input score 100; 65th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: -0.9% per year; rating input score 0; 58th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -14.3% per year; rating input score 0; 13th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 3 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 79.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 0 of 1 board members independent · 1 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $119K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $1K · 2 people listed
- Consistency: 19 of 19 current checks pass
- Schedules: 2 filed schedules
- Filing history: 10 filing years from 2009 to 2018
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 0/100.
- High — Accountability: Governance controls: 6 of 7 not reported.
- High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 22/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 38/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 20/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 21/100.