Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies
Legal name: Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies North America Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 222594099
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2011–2024
- Official website data refreshed
- Jun 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2024
- Location
- New York, NY, United States
- Phone
- 02-6735210
- Rating
- 82
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Single Organization Support
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $3,532,238
- Expenses
- $11,599,805
- Assets
- $6,062,057
- Liabilities
- $222,690
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2024. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
20 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- ABBEY SILBERMAN FAGIN (CHIEF DEVELO): $210,349 total reported compensation
- FAITH BRIGHAM LEENER (CHIEF INNOVA): $201,383 total reported compensation
- STEPHANIE BAUM (DIRECTOR OF): $143,701 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 Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies is an open, inclusive, diverse and intellectually challenging Jewish learning community based in Jerusalem with programs worldwide. Pardes cultivates a life-long love of Jewish learning, the Jewish people and Israel, and inspires engagement in Jewish life—as communal and spiritual leaders, educators and active participants.
What it reported doing in 2024
Pardes institute of jewish studies north america, provides financial and managerial support for the pardes institute of jewish studies in jerusalem and the programming pardes provides in north america. Through its efforts, thousands of pardes alumni have acquired extraordinary jewish education at pardes in israel, and returning to the united states, and elsewhere around the globe, to become teachers and/or leaders of jewish institutions, schools, and community organizations. Pardes students are generally graduates of the top colleges and universities in the u.s., who are seeking a spiritual connection and intellectual understanding of their jewish heritage before going on to graduate programs in business, medicine, sciences, education, and the rabbinate. Many graduates assume professional leadership positions within the jewish community.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 88% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- Distribution model
- Grant intermediary. The nonprofit sent 90% of its reported program spending out as grants.
The verdict
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. The filing reports few safeguards for money sent abroad and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 91
- Transparency & Controls: 70
- Accountability: 95
- Sustainability: 20
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
- Program expense ratio: 93.6%; rating input score 94
- Fundraising efficiency: $9.24 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd percentile among comparable filings
- Pay-setting controls: 3 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 50
- Compensation committee: Missing
- Independent consultant: Missing
- Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
- Written employment contract: Pass
- Compensation survey or study: Pass
- Board or committee approval: Pass
- Foreign activity oversight: 0 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 0
- Claims monitoring procedures: Limited
- 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 72nd 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; 63rd 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: -228.4%; rating input score 0; 0th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.52; rating input score 18; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.04; rating input score 74; 74th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 4.8%; rating input score 55; 55th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 8.1% per year; rating input score 100; 56th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.6% per year; rating input score 100; 18th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 10.9% per year; rating input score 100; 62nd 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: 100% of revenue deployed · 93.6% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 17 of 17 board members independent · 8 of 9 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $10.9M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $210K · 20 people listed · 3 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
- Consistency: 35 of 35 current checks pass
- Schedules: 7 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
- Filing history: 14 filing years from 2011 to 2024
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 5 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.
- 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 — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
- Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 18/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
- Review — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 55/100.