Minneapolis Jewish Federation

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
410693866
IRS 990 coverage
2009–2024
Official website data refreshed
Sep 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-T 2024
Location
Minneapolis, MN, United States
Phone
(952) 593-2600
Rating
77
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Standard
Sector
Federated Giving Programs
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$45,129,168
Expenses
$26,842,065
Assets
$243,634,365
Liabilities
$84,121,010

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

Leadership & pay

36 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • MARK APPELBAUM (PRESIDENT)
  • BRAD BIRNBERG (IMMEDIATE PAST PRESIDENT)
  • JAMES A COHEN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER)

Highest reported compensation

  • JAMES A COHEN (CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER): $491,339 total reported compensation
  • STEVEN BAKER (CHIEF PHLANTHROPY OFFICER): $204,177 total reported compensation
  • MARTIN K LIPSHUTZ (CHIEF FINANCIAL OFFICER): $181,516 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Minneapolis Jewish Federation promotes a culture of philanthropy, leverages financial and professional resources to meet local and global Jewish needs, and facilitates community planning to ensure a thriving and secure future. Because of the strength and support of our community we can leverage resources, leaders, and organizations to help the agencies we work with and the programs we support — the places that make up a thriving Jewish community — innovate, upgrade, and often simply exist. Our Mission Minneapolis Jewish Federation promotes a culture of philanthropy, leverages financial and professional resources to meet local and global Jewish needs, and facilitates community planning to ensure a thriving and secure future at home, in Israel, and around the world.

What it reported doing in 2024

Minneapolis jewish federation is a federated fundraising organization supporting the minneapolis area, as well as national and international communities. The federation raises funds through annual and directed campaigns to support beneficiary agencies to build new and upgrade existing programs. Additionally, the Minnesota jewish community foundation, which serves as the foundation's planned giving and endowment arm, provides grants to various charities across the u.s. Based on donor advised and designated fund recommendations. For more information on the impact minneapolis jewish federation has had on the community, please see the latest impact report at www.jewishminneapolis.org/who-we-are/numbers.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 66% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
Distribution model
Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 87% of its reported program spending out as grants.
  • Includes noncash contributions: Reported contributions include donated property or goods.

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 some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 69
  • Transparency & Controls: 72
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 81
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 64%; rating input score 64
  • Program expense ratio: 85%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: $13.23 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 46; 46th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 93.8%; rating input score 94; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
    • Compensation committee: Pass
    • 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: 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: 89%; rating input score 89; 19th percentile among comparable filings
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Yes; rating input score 100

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 8 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 89
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • 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: 40.5%; rating input score 92; 92nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 9.08; rating input score 90; 90th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.35; rating input score 42; 42nd percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 5%; rating input score 51; 51st percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.3% per year; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 7% per year; rating input score 100; 59th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 7.6% per year; rating input score 100; 52nd percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 2 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 64% of revenue deployed · 85% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 30 of 30 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $22.8M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $491K · 36 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 2 contractors listed · $517K reported
  • Consistency: 40 of 41 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
  • Schedules: 11 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, grants, executive pay, and related organizations
  • Filing history: 13 filing years from 2009 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 161 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 156 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.

  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 46/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 42/100.
  • Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 51/100.
  • Review — Transparency & Controls: Domestic grant itemization did not reconcile in the filed values.