The Weitzman

What it reported doing in 2024

Exhibition: the weitzman welcomed nearly 43,850 visitors to its exhibitions in fy25. In addition to the museum's core exhibition detailing 350 years of american jewish history and continuation of a special exhibition, from telegram to hyperlink, celebrating the work of the shneiderman family, prominent journalists eileen and s.l. Shneiderman, legendary photojournalist david seymour, and computer scientist ben shneiderman. By special invitation from Pennsylvania governor josh shapiro, the museum hosted the moment the music stood still: the nova music festival exhibition pop-up for the first anniversary of the october 7 massacre. Through immersive stories of festival-goers, multimedia presentations, and powerful artifacts, over the course of one week 4,154 visitors bore witness and heard the call to action embraced by survivors: "we will dance again." public programs: in partnership with over 20 local and national organizations, the weitzman staged 71 programs (up from around 50 in the previous year) presenting essential jewish thought and culture leaders. The programs attracted over 12,000 attendees in person and online up roughly 20% from the previous year's number (around 10,000). Highlighted participants from fy25 programs include Pennsylvania governor josh shapiro, betches media's sami sage, danielle and galeet dardashti (creators of the award winning nightingale of iran podcast), comedian judy gold, jewish music sensations the shvesters, award-winning restaurateurs michael solomonov and steve cook, superbowl winning general manager of the philadelphia eagles howie roseman, emmy-nominated chef and cookbook author molly yeh, and many more. The museum also acted as lead sponsor of the philadelphia jewish film festival and philadelphia's israeli film festival- hosting 16 events between the two. Jewish american heritage month (jahm, may 2025), which the weitzman leads nationally, exceeded education and marketing goals this cycle. Deepened collaboration with the american association of school librarians led to increased educator engagement with jahm through collection enhancement grants and printed posters. The premier event of jahm was once again an outstanding concert live from the nation's capital, this year held at the library of congress in Washington, dc. Year-over-year, the number of jahm poster requests increased by more than 200%, jahm education website pageviews increased by more than 140%, and jahm resource website downloads increased by nearly 80%. Thanks to a new funder, the marketing budget grew by 70% which, year-over-year, led to 6+ million impressions (74% increase), 700k engagements (84% increase), and 800k video views (79% increase). Visits to the jahm hub at jewishamericanheritage.org increased by 175%. Education: the weitzman welcomed over 250 schools, youth groups, summer camps, and adult groups for programs and tours exploring the american jewish experience. This is more than double the number of groups reached in fy24. Groups selected from signature programs including guided tours through the museum's core exhibition paired with holocaust survivors/descendants, historic interpreters, performance artists, or films. The museum established residency programs with the lower merion and westmoreland school districts, providing professional development for faculty and staff alongside in-class and in-museum lessons and tours for students. The museum continued developing "stories that shaped a nation," a free curriculum on the american jewish experience, antisemitism, and the jewish people. In partnership with gratz college, the museum worked with a cohort of 10 education professionals to develop the formatting and mission of the curriculum.

Financial Efficiency

• Mission deployment rate: 59.9%; rating input score 60
• Program expense ratio: 58.5%; rating input score 58
• Fundraising efficiency: $3.67 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 14; 14th percentile among comparable filings

Transparency & Controls

• Consistency checks: 94.4%; rating input score 94; 22nd 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: Limited
• Major donor itemization: Yes; rating input score 100
• Related-party transparency: Limited

Accountability

• Independent voting board: 100%; rating input score 100; 66th percentile among comparable filings
• Governance controls: 9 of 9 controls in place; rating input score 100
  • Conflict-of-interest policy: Pass
  • Whistleblower policy: Pass
  • Document-retention policy: Pass
  • CEO compensation review process: Pass
  • Other executive compensation review process: Pass
  • Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
  • Board meeting minutes documented: Pass
  • Audit committee oversight: Pass
  • Independent financial-statement audit: Pass

Sustainability

• Operating margin: 5.6%; rating input score 56; 56th percentile among comparable filings
• Total-asset coverage ratio: 3.44; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.08; rating input score 78; 78th percentile among comparable filings
• Officer compensation ratio: 15.5%; rating input score 8; 8th percentile among comparable filings

Growth

• Program expense growth: -4.8% per year; rating input score 0; 3rd percentile among comparable filings
• Revenue growth: -15.6% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings
• Asset growth: -10.9% per year; rating input score 0; 1st percentile among comparable filings