The Jewish Agency for Israel

Legal name: The Jewish Agency - American Section Inc

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
131919802
IRS 990 coverage
2010–2025
Official website data refreshed
Aug 2026
Forms available
Form 990 2025
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
2123396000
Rating
55
Verdict
MIXED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Human Service Organizations
Affiliation
Judaism

Official website

Reported finances

Revenue
$10,240,353
Expenses
$8,190,496
Assets
$3,564,957
Liabilities
$1,756,197

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • DAVID BRANDWEIN (CFO, PRESIDENT AND CHAIR)
  • MELISSA LEVINSON (VICE PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • DAVID BRANDWEIN (CFO, PRESIDENT AND CHAIR): $352,106 total reported compensation
  • DANA FEURSTEIN (HR DIRECTOR): $160,836 total reported compensation
  • ANN BERKMAN (REGIONAL DIRECTOR): $152,830 total reported compensation

Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.

Overview

Mission

Vision and Mission Our Vision:** A secure, diverse and thriving Jewish People, united by our heritage and commitment to Israel, the homeland of the Jewish People and all of its citizens. Our Mission:** The Jewish Agency acts collectively to strengthen Israel and the Jewish people worldwide through: Advancing Aliyah as a core value; Deepening Jewish connections; Supporting resilience and security of global communities; and Encouraging every Jewish person to engage with Israel.

What it reported doing in 2025

Support for programs in the united states of the jewish agency for israel (jafi), which is an independent voluntary association dealing with the settlement of jews in israel and other philanthropic activities. Among their functions are immigration and absorption of immigrants in israel, including: absorption in agricultural settlements and immigrant housing; social welfare and health services for immigrants; education, including higher learning and research; youth care and training; teaching of hebrew and jewish culture and zionist education.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 100% 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

MIXED - A large share of available resources goes toward mission work and program spending has grown recently. A relatively small share of voting board members are independent and few specific pay-setting methods are documented in the filing; unanswered boxes are not proof of absence.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 66
  • Transparency & Controls: 44
  • Accountability: 47
  • Sustainability: 44
  • Growth: 80

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 68.2%; rating input score 68
  • Program expense ratio: 85.1%; rating input score 85
  • Fundraising efficiency: Limited

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 0 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 0
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Missing
  • Foreign activity oversight: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Grant itemization coverage: Scored; rating input score 0
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 25%; rating input score 25; 6th percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 7 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 78
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Pass
    • Document-retention policy: Pass
    • CEO compensation review process: Fail
    • 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: 20%; rating input score 76; 76th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.44; rating input score 10; 10th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.49; rating input score 26; 26th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 10.2%; rating input score 23; 23rd percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 8.6% per year; rating input score 100; 61st percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 11.4% per year; rating input score 100; 78th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: -11.8% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • What they do: 1 operating location identified
  • Where the money goes: 68.2% of revenue deployed · 85.1% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 1 of 4 board members independent · 7 of 9 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $7M in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $352K · 6 people listed · 0 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Consistency: 25 of 25 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 8 filed schedules · includes major donors, foreign activity, and executive pay
  • Filing history: 15 filing years from 2010 to 2025
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 6 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: 1 filed related-organization link
  • 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 — Accountability: Independent voting board scored 25/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Pay-setting controls scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Foreign activity oversight scored 0/100.
  • High — Transparency & Controls: Grant itemization coverage scored 0/100.
  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 9 not reported.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 10/100.
  • High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 23/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 26/100.