The SAM School
Legal name: Sephardic Academy of Manhattan Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 352392220
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2023
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2023, Form 990-T 2022
- Location
- New York, NY, United States
- Phone
- 2122496391
- Rating
- 85
- Verdict
- STRONG
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Kindergarten, Preschool, Nursery School, Early Admissions
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $8,805,337
- Expenses
- $6,300,645
- Assets
- $23,780,532
- Liabilities
- $10,561,397
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
14 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- MICHELLE DAYAN (Executive Dir.): $87,145 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2023. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The SAM School’s mission is to provide students with a universal education that emphasizes Sephardic-Judaic Culture and Torah knowledge and observance combined with the study of Sciences, Humanities and the Arts. Sephardic Inspiration. Imagine a school where academic excellence is authentic, exhilarating, and deeply personal. At The SAM School, our research-based curriculum sets a high bar and gives students the tools to reach it through deep support, small class sizes, and teachers who know them well. From STEM innovation and advanced literacy to piano and public speaking, learning is brought to life through inquiry and real-world connection. With New York City as our classroom, students don’t just gain knowledge; they learn how to apply it with purpose. In a culture of trust and high expectations, students discover the joy of learning, the pride of effort, and the confidence that...
What it reported doing in 2023
Early childhood, elementary and middle school educational services
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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
STRONG - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and the filed numbers largely add up. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and liabilities are high compared with assets.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 84
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 74
- Sustainability: 75
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 71.5%; rating input score 71
- Program expense ratio: 99.9%; rating input score 100
- Fundraising efficiency: $975.12 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 97; 97th percentile among comparable filings
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: Yes; rating input score 100
- Related-party transparency: Limited
Accountability
- Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 3 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 38
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Fail
- Document-retention policy: Fail
- 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: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 28.4%; rating input score 85; 85th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.77; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.44; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 1.4%; rating input score 79; 79th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 9.6% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 9.4% per year; rating input score 100; 67th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 21.1% per year; rating input score 100; 84th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 71.5% of revenue deployed · 99.9% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 3 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $6.3M in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $87K · 14 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 6 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 11 filing years from 2013 to 2023
- 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.
- Moderate — Accountability: Governance controls: 4 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.