Milwaukee Jewish Federation
Legal name: Milwaukee Jewish Federation Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 390806312
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2009–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
- Location
- Milwaukee, WI, US
- Phone
- +1 (414) 390-5700
- Rating
- 83
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Standard
- Sector
- Federated Giving Programs
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $33,554,629
- Expenses
- $32,990,405
- Assets
- $280,142,726
- Liabilities
- $103,855,460
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
39 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- MIRYAM ROSENZWEIG (PRESIDENT & CEO)
- MITCHELL MOSER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - JCF)
- JULIE SCHACK (VICE PRESIDENT OF PHILANTHROPY)
- SAMANTHA ABRAMSON (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - HERC)
Highest reported compensation
- MIRYAM ROSENZWEIG (PRESIDENT & CEO): $321,861 total reported compensation
- MITCHELL MOSER (EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - JCF): $239,102 total reported compensation
- MICHAEL SATTELL (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $222,835 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Through the development of community-wide financial support, planning and allocations, the mission of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation is to care for the needs of the Jewish people and to build a vibrant Jewish community in Milwaukee, in Israel, and around the world. In fulfilling its mission, the Federation is committed to the principles of _Klal Yisrael_ (the collective unity of the Jewish people), _tzedakah_ (the obligation to care for one another) and _tikkun olam_ (improving the society in which we live).
What it reported doing in 2024
The mission of "the chronicle" is to provide news of a local, national and international character so as to foster a sense of community within the jewish population in Wisconsin, provide information and interpretation concerning jewish life that is not available throughlocal and national media, create a forum for hearing those issues of a local, national and international nature that are important to jews, and to support the publisher. The milwaukee jewish federation in its community-building goal of promoting awareness of and support for the value of jewish community, serves as a communications vehicle through which local organizations, agencies and synagogues can report to their constituencies and to the jewish community in general and through which they can publicize their activities, record community events and life cycle events through articles and photographs, so as to act as a history of the community, and maintain an advertising medium for reaching the jewish population.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 69% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 47% for direct work, and 53% for grants.
- Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.
The verdict
STRONG - 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 the filing does not identify recipients for some grant dollars.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 87
- Transparency & Controls: 68
- Accountability: 100
- Sustainability: 56
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 84.6%; rating input score 85
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 4 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 67
- Compensation committee: Pass
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Pass
- 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: 52.4%; rating input score 52; 12th percentile among comparable filings
- Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- Document-retention policy: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: Pass
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
- Audit committee oversight: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Pass
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.7%; rating input score 41; 41st percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 8.49; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.37; rating input score 39; 39th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 5.5%; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 1.5% per year; rating input score 100; 17th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.3% per year; rating input score 100; 14th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 3.3% per year; rating input score 100; 24th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 3 operating locations identified
- Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 84.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 29 of 29 board members independent · 9 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 5 filed program accomplishments · $27.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $322K · 39 people listed · 4 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Highest-paid contractors: 5 contractors listed · $2.7M reported
- Consistency: 40 of 42 current checks pass · 2 findings to review
- Schedules: 12 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: 206 filed money-flow records
- Related organizations: 201 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.
- Staff and benefit plans: Retirement and health plans the organization files with the Department of Labor, and the people in them.
Key Signals
Signals prioritize questions for review. They are not findings of misconduct.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 25/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 52/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 41/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 39/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 46/100.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.
- Review — Transparency & Controls: Foreign grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.