Where Does $100 to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews Go (2024)?

The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) is a tax-exempt, non-profit 501 (c) 3 founded by a rabbi in 1983 as a way to “bless Israel and the Jewish people around the world with humanitarian care and life-saving aid” while “building bridges between Christians and Jews”  (note:  it is unclear how bridges between Christians and Jews are being built since most grants are are made to Jewish and Israeli organizations.

How is revenue spent at IFCJ?  The short answer is that 48% is spent on grants to Jewish organizations – in the US and in Israel – while about 38% is spent on fundraising, printing and postage, television and radio airtime, staff compensation, fees for services, office-related expenses, and travel,, with the remaining (14%) put into savings.  For more detail, read on.

Based in Chicago, Illinois, IFCJ raised $318 million in 2024 (compared to $271 million in 2023, $228 million in 2022, $220 million in 2021, $158 million in 2020, $118 million in 2019 and $119 million in 2018), most of which came from contributions, gifts, and grants.

Expenses of $272 million (86% of revenue) can be categorized as follows:

• $152 million (48% of revenue):  Grants
• $ 81 million (25% of revenue):  Printing,Postage, TV and Radio, Telemarketing, Adv & Prom
• $ 18 million (6% of revenue):  Compensation
•  $ 12 million (4% of revenue):  Fees for Services
• $  9 million (3% of revenue):  Office-Related Expenses

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

$100:  Revenue

-$ 25: Printing, Postage, TV, Radio, Programs, Telemarketing, Advertising and Promotion

-$  6:  Compensation

-$  4:  Fees for Services

-$  3:  Office-Related Expenses

-$ 38: Subtotal: Organizational Expenses

 $ 62: Remaining Revenue

-$ 48:  Grants

$ 14:  Remaining Revenue:  To General Fund

As illustrated above, the largest expense for the IFCJ is grants, which totaled $152 million in 2024.

GRANTS

The Form 990, Part IX, Statement of Functional Expenses reports IFCJ made $48 million in grants to domestic organizations and $104 million in grants to foreign organizations.  IFCJ has historically made a large portion of grants to Hakeren L’Yedidut, which operates as the Israeli representative of the IFCJ in Israel (“The  Amutah”),  a non-profit in Israel.

The Form 990, Schedule I, Part II, reports 1- grants greater than $5,000 totaling $48 million were made to 10 organizations in the US primarily for food and humanitarian support:

• $12  million:  Colel Chabad
• $11 million: The Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS
• $ 8 million:  The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee
• $ 7 million: Friends of United Hatzalah
• $ 5 million:  Friends of the IDF
• $2 million:  Tikva Corporation
• $ 1 million:  TBN Networks
• $ 1 million:  Chamah
• $1 million:  Lou Engels Ministeries (education of Christians of their Jewish roots)
• $1 million:  Jewish Agency for Israel North American Council (immigration to Israel support)

In summary, it appears that nearly all grants of the IFCJ were made to Jewish organizations: about $104 million ($28 million more than in 2023) was awarded in grants to foreign entities primarily in Israel and about $48 million was awarded to domestic Jewish organizations.

FUNDRAISING

The IFCJ participates in a variety of fundraising methods (i.e. mail, internet, e-mail, phone, and in-person solicitations and also solicitation of non-government grants) but relies primarily on direct mail. The Form 990, Schedule G, Part I reports outside organizations raised $222 million, retained $7.5 million, netting IFCJ $214 million (66% of total revenue)

COMPENSATION

Compensation is the second largest expense. 142 employees received $18 million in compensation, which equates to an average compensation of $127,000.  However, only 44 employees received more than $100,000 with the most highly compensated employee reported to be Yael Eckstein – Farkas, whose total compensation was reported to be $931,098.  IFCJ paid for first class or charter travel, travel for companions, and provided gross up payments or tax indemnification.  Specifically, Yael Eckstein-Frakas “travels in business class when traveling…”

NET ASSETS

IFCJ had $208 million in net assets at the end of 2024 (compared to $147 million at the beginning of the year and $96 million in 2022) because IFCJ spent $46 million less than they raised in 2024 along with recognizing $5 million in unrealized gains on investments  – more than $50 million more than the beginning of the year).

In summation, IFCJ appears to raise money to support Jewish organizations, primarily in Israel but also in the US but the organization also appears to be very focused on saving revenue.  The organization relies heavily on fundraisers with about 65% of revenue ($214 million of $325 million) from these outside organizations.  However IFCJ spends heavily for these dollars spending $81 million in printing, postage, advertising, promotion, television and radio ads, and telemarketing fees.   Less than 50% of total revenue is awarded in grants while 38% was spent on organization expenses (i.e. pay employees, fundraise, pay office-related expenses and fees, telemarketing, fundraising, advertising, etc) with unspent revenue (about 14% or $50 million in 2024) added to the general fund.

To read the IRS Form 990 (2024), click here.