The Jewish School Leadership Enterprise

Nonprofit profile at a glance

EIN
473172592
IRS 990 coverage
2016–2024
Forms available
Form 990 2024, Form 990-EZ 2020, Form 990-N 2022
Location
New York, NY, USA
Phone
3474349641
Rating
76
Verdict
SUPPORTED
Rating confidence
Moderate
Sector
Nonmonetary Support N.E.C.
Affiliation
Judaism

Reported finances

Revenue
$488,117
Expenses
$679,762
Assets
$180,442
Liabilities
$21,445

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

Leadership & pay

6 people listed

Executive titles in this filing

  • JASON ABLIN (PRESIDENT)

Highest reported compensation

  • JASON ABLIN (PRESIDENT): $215,140 total reported compensation
  • STUART ZWEITER (BOARD MEMBER): $24,000 total reported compensation

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

Overview

Mission

The jewish school leadership enterprise is a new initiative seeking to recalibrate the jewish community's lens on who should lead our schools and why. From the perspective of boards to current school staff and educators to the wide expanse of professionals in the jewish world, we hope to inspire passionate individuals wanting to make a meaningful impact on the next generation.

What it reported doing in 2024

The lookstein center for jewish education USA, inc. Was established solely for charitable, religious, educational and scientific purposes under the IRS 501(c)(3). The lookstein center engages, supports, develops and delivers professional programming and resources to jewish educators, leaders, and dedicated lay people worldwide. The center's staff and supporters dedicate themselves to thinking about and exploring jewish education's current issues and needs and then translate these ideas into curriculum, resources, programs, and community action, often at the forefront in utilizing cutting edge technologies. The lookstein center mission is to help educators helping other educators to become better educators.

Operating model

Revenue model
Donor-supported. 97% 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. Some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered and fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised.

Rating breakdown

  • Financial Efficiency: 88
  • Transparency & Controls: 70
  • Accountability: 72
  • Sustainability: 11
  • Growth: 100

Detailed rating inputs

Financial Efficiency

  • Mission deployment rate: 100%; rating input score 100
  • Program expense ratio: 82.6%; rating input score 83
  • Fundraising efficiency: $10.38 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 40; 40th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

  • Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Pay-setting controls: 1 of 6 controls in place; rating input score 17
    • Compensation committee: Missing
    • Independent consultant: Missing
    • Other Form 990s reviewed: Missing
    • Written employment contract: Missing
    • Compensation survey or study: Missing
    • Board or committee approval: Pass
  • Foreign activity oversight: Limited
  • Grant itemization coverage: Limited
  • Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
  • Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

  • Independent voting board: 80%; rating input score 80; 21st percentile among comparable filings
  • Governance controls: 5 of 8 controls in place; rating input score 62
    • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
    • Whistleblower policy: Fail
    • Document-retention policy: Fail
    • CEO compensation review process: Pass
    • Other executive compensation review process: NotApplicable
    • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
    • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
    • Audit committee oversight: Pass
    • Independent financial-statement audit: Fail

Sustainability

  • Operating margin: -39.3%; rating input score 7; 7th percentile among comparable filings
  • Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.27; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings
  • Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 25; 25th percentile among comparable filings
  • Officer compensation ratio: 35.2%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

  • Program expense growth: 7.8% per year; rating input score 100; 64th percentile among comparable filings
  • Revenue growth: 21.4% per year; rating input score 100; 89th percentile among comparable filings
  • Asset growth: 22.9% per year; rating input score 100; 87th percentile among comparable filings

Details

  • Where the money goes: 100% of revenue deployed · 82.6% of spending went to programs
  • Governance: 4 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
  • Programs: 1 filed program accomplishment · $562K in reported program spending
  • Leadership: top reported pay $215K · 6 people listed · 1 of 6 pay-setting controls reported
  • Highest-paid contractors: 1 contractor listed · $260K reported
  • Consistency: 20 of 20 current checks pass
  • Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors and executive pay
  • Filing history: 3 filing years from 2016 to 2024
  • Contacts: How to reach this organization
  • Money network: 2 filed money-flow records
  • Related organizations: Filed and resolved organization relationships.
  • 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.

  • Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 3 of 8 not reported.
  • Moderate — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 40/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 7/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 14/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 8/100.
  • High — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 25/100.