How Revenue is Spent at the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) Federation of NY (2022)

The United Jewish Appeal Federation of Jewish Philanthropies of NY, Inc is also known as the UJA Federation of NY.

Based in New York City, the UJA Federation of NY has historically been focused on raising funds and using those funds to make grants (61% of revenue in 2019, 68% of revenue in 2020, 54% of revenue in 2021 and 60% in 2022) – primarily to domestic Jewish organizations including $50 million in grants to the Jewish Federations of North America in 2022 – and strengthen their balance sheet by allotting millions annually to the general fund (they reported having $1.4 billion in net assets by the end of 2022 which is about $100 million lower than the beginning of the year primarily due to unrealized losses on investments).

The UJA Federation of NY is a tax-exempt non-profit overseen by 157 independent voting members of the governing body; 92 (59%) of whom are male while 65 (41%) are female (note:  the Form 990 does not report gender determinations were made based on name and google searches).

In 2022, total revenue was $294 million, most of which came from contributions, gifts, and grants ($199 million), gains on the sale of investments and investment income ($62 million) and related organizations ($36 million), which was offset by $4 million in losses on fundraising events.

Expenses totaled $255 million (not including $4 million in depreciation) and can be categorized as follows:

• $177 million (60% of revenue):  Grants
• $ 53 million (18% of revenue):  Compensation
• $  8 million (3% of revenue):  Fees for Services
• $  8 million (3% of revenue):  Office-Related Expenses
• $  7 million (2% of revenue):  Interest, travel, stipends, tuition, etc
• $  2 million (1% of revenue):  Advertising and Promotion

Using the above information, every $100 in revenue was used as follows:

$100:  Revenue

-$ 18:  Compensation

-$  3:  Fees for Services

-$  3:  Office-Related Expenses

-$  2:  Interest, Travel, Stipends, Tuition, Etc

-$  2:  Advertising and Promotion

-$ 28:  Subtotal:  Organization Expenses

 $ 72:  Remaining Revenue

-$ 60:  Grants

$ 12:  Excess Revenue:  To General Fund

UJA Federation of NY spent $88 out of every $100 with $12 out of every $100 (or $35 million total) allocated to the general fund. At year-end, UJA Federation of NY had $1.4 billion in net assets (down about $100 million from the previous year primarily because of unrealized losses on investments).

As illustrated above, the largest expenses were grants and compensation.

GRANTS

$177 million in total grants were made with $175 million made to domestic organizations and $2 million to overseas.  249 grants greater than $5,000 were made to other non-profits with the largest grants awarded to:

• $50 million (5 grants):  Jewish Federations of North America, of NY, NY for caring/Jewish life
• $ 6 million:  Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, of NY, NY for caring/Jewish life
• $ 5 million:  Jewish Community Relations Council of NY, of NY, NY for caring/Jewish life
• $ 5 million:  Samuel Field Y, of Little Neck, NY for caring/Jewish life
• $ 5 million:   Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty, of NY, NY for caring/Jewish life
• $ 4 million:  Jewish Education Project, of NY, NY for Jewish life
• $ 4 million:  Jerusalem Foundation, of NY, NY for Jewish life

COMPENSATION

434 employees received $53 million in compensation, or an average of $122,000.  However, only 13 employees received more than $100,000 with the most highly compensated employee reported to be Devana Cohen, the CFO who received $882,796.

The bottom line is the UJA Federation of NY raised nearly $300 million in 2022 and used 60% on grants, primarily to domestic organizations in the US.  About 28% of revenue was spent on organization expenses leaving 12% allocated to savings. With $1.4 billion in net assets, the UJA Federation of NY has a significant cushion.

To read the IRS Form 990 for UJA Federation of NY (2021 for the year ending June 30, 2022), click here.