Wilderness Torah
Nonprofit profile at a glance
- EIN
- 454437061
- IRS 990 coverage
- 2013–2025
- Official website data refreshed
- Sep 2026
- Forms available
- Form 990 2025
- Location
- Reisterstown, MD, United States
- Phone
- 510-926-4648
- Rating
- 72
- Verdict
- SUPPORTED
- Rating confidence
- Moderate
- Sector
- Natural Resources Conservation and Protection
- Affiliation
- Judaism
Reported finances
- Revenue
- $515,434
- Expenses
- $541,243
- Assets
- $94,250
- Liabilities
- $11,163
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Amounts in USD.
Leadership & pay
6 people listed
Executive titles in this filing
- Julie Wolk (President)
Highest reported compensation
- Itamar Cohen (Int Exec Dir): $111,754 total reported compensation
Source: IRS Form 990. Selected filing: tax year 2025. Names and roles reflect this filing, not necessarily current officeholders.
Overview
Mission
Wilderness Torah promotes healing, belonging, and resilience. We awaken and celebrate earth-based Jewish traditions through inclusive and intergenerational village-building. We seek educators with 3+ years experience in youth mentoring, nature connection, wilderness skills, and/or Jewish learning to serve as mentors for our B’naiture program for the 2026-2028 cohort. As a B’naiture mentor, your role is to provide nature-based games, challenges, crafts, stories, Jewish and nature-based learning, and help guide youth into their teen years. About Wilderness Torah and Adamah SF: Founded in 2007, Wilderness Torah is a leader in the earth-based Judaism movement and has served thousands of people with land-based holiday retreats; outdoor, mentor-based K-12 programs; young adult leadership development, local and national training in our models, and most recently our vir.
What it reported doing in 2025
Our VisionThe modern yearning to connect is not going away; rather its becoming increasingly apparent to Jews everywhere. To heed this call, our vision is to build a thriving Bay Area center for earth-based Judaism that reconnects our community to nature all year round, providing a hub for our community programs, a permaculture village, and a training ground to bring Wilderness Torah programs across the Jewish world.
Operating model
- Revenue model
- Mixed. Its operating money came from several sources; no one source provided a clear majority.
- 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 - The filed numbers largely add up and most voting board members are independent. Fundraising costs are high for each dollar raised and some filing-based governance responses are negative or unanswered.
Rating breakdown
- Financial Efficiency: 58
- Transparency & Controls: 92
- Accountability: 84
- Sustainability: 17
- Growth: 80
Detailed rating inputs
Financial Efficiency
- Mission deployment rate: 63.9%; rating input score 64
- Program expense ratio: 60.8%; rating input score 61
- Fundraising efficiency: $4.84 raised per $1 spent on fundraising; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Transparency & Controls
- Consistency checks: 100%; rating input score 100; 63rd 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: 100%; rating input score 100; 64th 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: Pass
- CEO compensation review process: NotApplicable
- Other executive compensation review process: Pass
- Form 990 shared with the board: Pass
- Board meeting minutes documented: Fail
- Audit committee oversight: Missing
- Independent financial-statement audit: Fail
Sustainability
- Operating margin: -5%; rating input score 19; 19th percentile among comparable filings
- Total-asset coverage ratio: 0.17; rating input score 9; 9th percentile among comparable filings
- Liabilities to assets ratio: 0.12; rating input score 32; 32nd percentile among comparable filings
- Officer compensation ratio: 20.6%; rating input score 15; 15th percentile among comparable filings
Growth
- Program expense growth: 3.1% per year; rating input score 100; 27th percentile among comparable filings
- Revenue growth: 1.1% per year; rating input score 100; 15th percentile among comparable filings
- Asset growth: -3.4% per year; rating input score 0; 8th percentile among comparable filings
Details
- What they do: 8 programs and campaigns described on the official site · 1 operating location identified
- Where the money goes: 63.9% of revenue deployed · 60.8% of spending went to programs
- Governance: 5 of 5 board members independent · 5 of 8 filing controls reported
- Programs: 2 filed program accomplishments · $329K in reported program spending
- Leadership: top reported pay $112K · 6 people listed
- Consistency: 27 of 27 current checks pass
- Schedules: 4 filed schedules · includes major donors
- Filing history: 12 filing years from 2013 to 2025
- Contacts: How to reach this organization
- Money network: 1 filed money-flow record
- 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.
- High — Financial Efficiency: Fundraising efficiency scored 15/100.
- Review — Accountability: Governance controls: 2 of 7 not reported.
- High — Sustainability: Operating margin scored 19/100.
- High — Sustainability: Total-asset coverage ratio scored 9/100.
- High — Growth: Asset growth scored 0/100.
- High — Sustainability: Officer compensation ratio scored 15/100.
- Moderate — Sustainability: Liabilities to assets ratio scored 32/100.