The Ayin Institute Inc
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 861454151
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2022–2025
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025, Form 990-N 2021
- Location
- Brooklyn, NY, USA
- Phone
- 9178595914
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Printing, Publishing
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $1,303,399
- Expenses
- $1,286,122
- Assets
- $183,137
- Liabilities
- $37,811
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
10 people listed
Highest reported compensation
- EDEN PEARLSTEIN (DIRECTOR): $117,271 total reported compensation
- TOM HAVIV (DIRECTOR): $115,750 total reported compensation
- PENINA EILBERG-SCHWARTZ (SECRETARY): $76,380 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
The ayin institute, inc. (the organization") was formed on january 7, 2021 for the purpose of providing an artist-run publishing platform, production studio, and research collective rooted in jewish culture and emanating outward. The organization will create and support work at the intersection of political imagination, speculative theology, and radical aesthetics.both online and in print, the organization will seek to celebrate artists and thinkers at the margins and explore the growing edges of collective consciousness through a diverse range of interdisciplinary, multimedia, and experimental works and projects. This includes, but is not limited to poetry, essays, fiction, theory, artbooks, anthologies, archives, interviews, translations, multi media, conceptual projects, digital works, immersive events, and online programming.the ayin institute, inc. Was founded on a deep belief in the power of culture and creativity to heal, transform, and uplift the world we share and build t
What it reported doing in 2025
Print publishing - through ayin's book publishing program, we have continued to publish at theintersection of speculative theology, political imagination, and transformational art. In2025, we launched our new aora imprint, which publishes works beyond borders, disciplines, and traditions. Our print publications included four new books, one booklet, and the distribution of five books and card decks for aligned publishing partners. Ourpublished titles titles include: surviva: a future ancestral guide by cannupa hanskaluger; protocols: an erasure by daniela molnar; the torah in the tarot by stavappel; golden threads by ariella asha azoulay; and expanding the field: a diy roshhashanah companion by eden pearlstein, aya baron, sarah chandler, scott osman, ayse birsel, and jessica tamar deutsch. Our distributed works include megillat esther: the graphic tale by jt waldman; jewish mystic cards by jessica tamar deutsch; thethousands: a tithe by anne germanacos; mergemerge: a book of cards by annegermanacos; and the mergiing of two oceans: nine talks on sufism and hasidism bynetanel miles-ypez.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Donor-supported. 80% of the money available for current operations came from contributions and gifts.
- 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
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: 85
- Accountability: 62
- Sustainability: 23
- Growth: 100
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 74.5%; rating input score 75
- Program expense ratio: 75.5%; rating input score 76
- Fundraising efficiency: $6.15 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 21; 21st percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 90.9%; rating input score 91; 10th 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: 62.5%; rating input score 62; 16th percentile among comparable filings
- Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
- Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
- Whistleblower policy: Pass
- 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: Pass
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: 1.3%; rating input score 35; 35th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.14; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.21; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 24.1%; rating input score 12; 12th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 62.4% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 52.6% per year; rating input score 100; 96th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: 25% per year; rating input score 100; 85th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- Where the money goes: 74.5% of revenue deployed · 75.5% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 8 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 3 filed program accomplishments · $971K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $117K · 10 people listed
- Consistency: 24 of 25 current checks pass · 1 finding to review
- Schedules: 5 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 4 filing years from 2022 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 3 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 — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 21/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 35/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 8/100.
- Moderate — Transparency & Controls: Schedule A contributions reconciliation did not reconcile in the filed values.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 12/100.
- High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.