Sulam Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
522105076
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024
Location
Rockville, MD, USA
Phone
3013481323
Rating
78
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Residential Care & Adult Day Programs
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$2,690,257
Expenses
$2,744,846
Assets
$1,372,512
Liabilities
$99,338

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

Leadership & pay

16 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • Arnold Sherman (President)
  • Daphna Raskas (Vice President)

Highest reported compensation

  • Lianne Heller (Director): $200,000 total reported compensation
  • Marilyn Lifschitz (Financial Director): $102,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

Sulam fosters and provides inclusive, high quality, special education support for diverse learners in grades K-12 within Jewish day schools across the Greater Washington area.

What it reported doing in 2024

Sulam continues to provide services which enable students who are neurodivergent thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. In FY 2024-25 there was an increase in enrollment of 26%. In June 2025, 5 Sulam students received high school diplomas and planned to move on to the university level in the fall.

Operating model

Revenue model
Earned-program. 71% of the money available for current operations came from fees and other program revenue.
Distribution model
Hybrid. The nonprofit split its reported program spending across 76% for direct work, and 24% 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: 73
  • Transparency & Controls: 79
  • Accountability: 95
  • Sustainability: 28
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 82.4%; rating input score 82
  • Program expense ratio: 80.7%; rating input score 81
  • Fundraising efficiency: $1.55 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 4; 4th 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: Pass
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: 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: 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: -2%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.5; rating input score 17; 17th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.07; rating input score 64; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 11%; rating input score 27; 27th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 3.2% per year; rating input score 100; 29th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 4.9% per year; rating input score 100; 40th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 15.4% per year; rating input score 100; 75th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 82.4% of revenue deployed · 80.7% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 14 of 14 board members independent · 7 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $2.2M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $200K · 16 people listed · 2 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 30 of 30 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, grants, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 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 4/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 27/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 17/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: Other executive compensation review process not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 27/100.