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Jewish Education Center of Cleveland

EIN 34-0714554 · Cleveland Hts, OH

Public records show a registered, tax-exempt organization in good standing.

LegitimacyPassesRegistration and standingFinancial healthStrong100 out of 100GovernanceStrong90 out of 100Impact evidenceDescribes programsHow well its results are evidenced

What it says it does

The mission is to inspire transformative Jewish educational experiences that add meaning to the lives of Jewish children and their families in Cleveland. The vision of the agency is to instill a lifelong love of Jewish learning to further Jewish continuity in Cleveland.

Income
$13.2 million
Spending
$9.0 million
Spent on programs
90%
Reserves
12.8 months of spending
Largest source of income
donations and private grants, 93%
Employees
45
Volunteers
46
Highest pay
$338,073, chief executive officer

Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Financial health

Strong: 100 out of 100. Higher than 89% of charities in its peer group (religion, $10m to $100m).

  • Reserves

    35 of 35

    Spendable reserves would cover 12.8 months of spending.

  • Debt

    20 of 20

    It owes 10% of what it owns.

  • Living within its means

    15 of 15

    Income exceeded spending by 32% of income.

  • Income trend

    15 of 15

    Income rose 57% on the year before.

  • Spending floor

    15 of 15

    90% of spending went to programs and raising each dollar of donations cost 0 cents.

Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Governance

Strong: 90 out of 100. Higher than 37% of charities in its peer group (religion, $10m to $100m).

  • Independent board

    25 of 25

    46 of 46 voting board members are independent.

  • Conflict of interest policy

    15 of 15

    Has a written conflict of interest policy.

  • Whistleblower policy

    8 of 8

    Has a written whistleblower policy.

  • Record keeping policy

    7 of 7

    Has a written policy on keeping and destroying records.

  • Board minutes

    5 of 5

    Keeps minutes of board meetings.

  • Board sees the tax return

    0 of 10

    Did not give the board a copy of this return before filing it.

  • Pay set independently

    5 of 5

    Sets its chief executive's pay through independent review and comparison.

  • Independent check of accounts

    15 of 15

    Its accounts were audited by an independent accountant.

  • No reported misuse

    10 of 10

    Reports no diversion of assets, excess benefits or loans to insiders.

Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Impact evidence

Describes programs. Its tax return describes what it does but we have found no measurable results in it.

Programs described in its return (13)
  1. $1.4 million spent. Personnel Development: Educators services program enriches the skills, Judaic and professional knowledge of community educators through myriad mini courses and on line courses. Intensive on site professional development that fosters professional learning teams. Tuition subsidies and scholarships for college degrees and professional development seminars for professional growth with a new degree, license or certificate. 245 educators received stipends. This program also supports day school educator positions. The agency works with a local professional development committee serving general studies teachers in the Cleveland area affiliated day schools. The committee reviews and approves license applications, individual professional development plans and associate course request to ensure the general studies teachers maintain their Ohio licenses and certificates.
  2. $1.1 million spent. Family & Adult Education: Formal and informal education outreach programs which include Hebrew literacy and Jewish identity projects. This program provides grants to 12 adult education providers to enhance their ability to engage adults in lifelong learning. These providers reach hundreds of individuals in a variety of formats and settings. This program also offers support to supplementary schools with a total of 11 community funded educators to fill a variety of educational and programmatic positions in local supplementary schools. Intergenerational initiative is a program for Jewish adults age 55 plus to engage in Jewish learning, living and community, including those passionate about grandparenting. This initiative has engaged with 370 individuals.
  3. $938,846 spent. Informal Education: the Retreat Institute creates & implemented 28 retreats and informal education programs in collaboration with local Jewish educational institutions. 1,895 participants (students, educators and families) participated in these experiences. The Adolescent Initiative works with youth professionals from local organization for both professional development, community planning and adolescent development. This program also supports youth educator positions and programming in the community. Israel program grants and financial aid for students for approved educational trips to Israel to participate in youth group programs plus Gift of Israel matching incentive program for eighth grade school trip to Israel for study and college seminary/yeshivah programs. The Israel program funded 134 participants.
  4. $860,631 spent. Camping Program: Camp incentive grants for students to attend Jewish denominational over night camps around the country. The camping program funded 380 students this year.
  5. $744,103 spent. @Akiva - is vibrant place for Cleveland teens to explore and grow in their devotion to Judaism and Israel while fostering everlasting friendships. From Hebrew and Judaic after school classes, to advocating for Israel through special activities and community service. @Akiva offers unique programming throughout the year. Approximately 270 students were involved in the various programs, High School Hebrew, On The Road, Israel Now and Icnext.
  6. $699,938 spent. Interfaith Engagement- a program to engage interfaith couples and families to enhance their involvement in the Jewish community to comfortably explore, discover and personalize the meaning of Jewish culture and values in the modern world. This year more than 4,292 families were involved in various experiences.
  7. $583,407 spent. Shared Services - Provides information technology services to six educational institutions and the Mandel Jewish Community Center. It manages the consortium's data center, over 1616 workstations and laptops, iPads, 3,125 Chromebooks, 20 physical servers, 110 VMware virtual servers, 17 backup/vcenter servers, 8 local network attached storage, 250 VPN/Citrix users, 300 Cisco duo users and 10 Cisco voip phone systems, 500 IP phones, 10 camera surveillance systems, 430 Cisco ,Axis and Hanwha cameras throughout the consortium of schools and agencies.
  8. $500,799 spent. Education Resources: the Educational Capacity Building (Curriculum) Department serves the educational needs of Cleveland's supplementary schools, day schools, and preschools. The Teacher Center is a hands on materials center where teachers create instructional aids for their classrooms. The Teacher Center serviced over 19 schools, 6 various play groups and approximately 1,292 visits from educators. The Ratner Media & Technology Center is relied upon in the educational community as a place to find outstanding resources and expert advice. Congregational enrichment provided 37 grants to 11 congregations schools for enrichment programs.
  9. $443,344 spent. Early Childhood Education - Focuses on development of senior personnel, professional development/credentialing of teachers. Enhancing Judaic content and creating linkages between early childhood Jewish education and other stages of Jewish education. This program worked with 9 preschools and approximately 180 teachers in the community.
  10. $440,484 spent. Planning & Evaluation: Ensuring accountability and measuring success are central activities of the agency. Initiatives in this area build upon the internal programmatic reflective practice and data gathering that is a regular part of the agency's programs. The JEC's strategic plan calls for increase involvement in Jewish education in three principal ways: by lowering barriers to participation, maximizing gateways and fostering linkages between educational opportunities. Strengthen the quality of Jewish education. Cultivate the capacity of the educational institutions about engagement in Israel. Ensure a high level of accountability of the agency programs.
  11. $167,389 spent. Special Education(Segula) - Provides services to students in day schools and supplementary schools and in-service training opportunities to special education teachers in the field. The Segula program served 19 students with special needs.
  12. $157,718 spent. Shin Shin Program - The Cleveland Jewish schools and youth groups benefit from the Israeli emissaries through various educational programs. The emissaries were involved with 17 organizations.
  13. $115,568 spent. Onward Hebrew -An online Hebrew learning program developed for those desiring to teach Hebrew through Movement, but whose Hebrew is weak. The program specifically teachers Hebrew through Movement's vocabulary and grammatical patterns following the Hebrew Through Movement's acquisitional language approach. There were approximately 70 synagogues involved in the educational programs and approximately 272 educators touched by this program.

Source: Form 990 for the year ending June 30, 2025, filed with the Internal Revenue Service. Rating method 2026.2. How we rate

Legitimacy checks

  1. Is it registered with the IRS? Passed.

    Listed in the IRS master file of tax-exempt organizations as a 501(c)(3) charitable organization.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.

  2. Has the IRS revoked its tax-exempt status? Passed.

    Not on the IRS automatic revocation list.

    Source: Automatic revocation of exemption list, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 30, 2026.

  3. Are donations tax-deductible? Passed.

    On the IRS list of organizations eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions.

    Source: Publication 78 data: organizations eligible for tax-deductible contributions, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 10, 2026.

  4. Is it keeping up with its IRS filings? Passed.

    Most recent return on file covers the year ending June 2025.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.

  5. How long has it been tax-exempt? Passed.

    Recognized by the IRS since January 1945.

    Source: Exempt Organizations Business Master File, Internal Revenue Service, file dated September 7, 2026.

  6. Is it in good standing with state regulators? Passed.

    Not on California's list of charities barred from soliciting. Other states are not yet checked.

    Source: May Not Operate or Solicit for Charitable Purposes list, California Attorney General, Registry of Charities and Fundraisers, file dated October 7, 2026.

Ratings and checks are our reading of public records, using the published method. They are not a statement about anyone's honesty. If you work for this organization, you can send corrections or results, confirm you want gifts through Veridonate, or ask to be removed from giving.