Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
136209691
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
New York, NY, United States
Phone
(212) 425-6606
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Fund Raising and Fund Distribution
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$1,215,133
Expenses
$1,966,630
Assets
$23,874,779
Liabilities
$368,925

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

Leadership & pay

49 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MR JONATHAN ARKUSH (PRESIDENT)
  • MR SALOMON RYTZ (VICE PRESIDENT)
  • MR HARVEY BLITZ (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JENNIFER FRIEDMAN (EXECUTIVE DIR.): $266,997 total reported compensation
  • RHONDA COHEN (CONTROLLER): $153,371 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 Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture (MFJC) promotes Jewish peoplehood by supporting and developing the next generation of scholars and leaders in Jewish communities around the world. Support MFJC Help transform the future of the jewish world With your participation, we can ensure that the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture continues to lead and enhance the international Jewish community for the next fifty years. We look to you and all those who care about global Jewish connectedness and about Jewish scholarship to step forward and pledge financial support for the Memorial Foundation for Jewish Culture. Please add your support to that of other leaders by giving generously. Every gift is appreciated and important.

What it reported doing in 2024

Nahum goldmann fellowship is a special program aimed at nurturing a new generation of jewish communal leadership across the world. The program provides an intensive experience of jewish learning, living and leadership for young men and women from around the world between the ages of 25-40 who show serious interest in jewish culture and demonstrate a potential for individual growth and communal leadership.fellowship program: awarded to individuals with the assistance of scholarly bodies to enable them to pursue independent work in jewish culture and scholarship broadly defined. The organization has awarded approximately 34 grants for the year ending 9/30/25.doctoral scholarship program: awarded with the assistance of scholarly bodies to help individuals train for careers in jewish scholarship and research in the jewish community. The organization has awarded approximately 9 grants for the year ending 9/30/25.advanced torah fellows: individuals receive financial support towards research, preparation, and publication of a paper or book that demonstrates significant scholarship and the capacity to connect torah to current social and cultual issues. Approximately 4 grants for the year ending 9/30/25.

Operating model

Revenue model
Investment-supported. 74% of the money available for current operations came from recurring investment income.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 71% for direct work, and 29% for grants.

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 expenses are high relative to revenue.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 81
  • Transparency & Controls: 71
  • Accountability: 94
  • Sustainability: 37
  • Growth: 40

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 75.8%; rating input score 76
  • Fundraising efficiency: $0.99 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 3; 3rd percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 2 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 33
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • 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: 2 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 25
    • Claims monitoring procedures: Pass
    • Requires narrative reports: Pass
    • 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 97.8%; rating input score 98; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 88
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • 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: -61.8%; rating input score 2; 2nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 12.14; rating input score 93; 93rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.02; rating input score 65; 65th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 21.4%; rating input score 13; 13th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 0.2% per year; rating input score 100; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: -6.1% per year; rating input score 0; 4th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -1.1% per year; rating input score 0; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 programs and campaigns described on the official site
  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 75.8% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 44 of 45 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $1.5M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $267K · 49 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 37 of 37 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 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: 2 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: Fundraising efficiency scored 3/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 2/100.
  • High — Growth: Revenue growth scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 13/100.