Hadassah, The Women's Zionist Organization of America

Mission: Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America (HWZOA) http://www.hadassah.org/, was founded in 1912 by Henrietta Szold. Since its inception, Hadassah has remained unwavering in its devotion to Judaism, Zionism, and American ideals. As the largest volunteer organization and the largest women's organization in America, Hadassah is committed to strengthening the unity of the Jewish people. In Israel, we accomplish this through progressive healthcare, education, youth institutions, volunteerism, and land reclamation. In the U.S. we reach our goals through Jewish and Zionist education programs, Zionist Youth programs, and health awareness programs, as well as by advocating for issues of importance to women and to the American Jewish community.

FINANCIAL EFFICIENCY EVALUATION: According to Charity Navigator (http://www.charitynavigator.org/), America’s leading charity evaluator, HWZOA has an overall rating of four stars (four stars is the highest rating.) Charity Navigator provides the following financial breakdown of HWZOA based on 990 tax returns trough 2006: Overall Rating: 4 stars **** Organizational Efficiency: Efficiency Rating 4 stars **** Program Expenses: 82.8% Administrative Expenses: 11.1% Fundraising Expenses: 6.0% Fundraising Efficiency: $0.07 (HWZOA spends $0.07 to raise $1) Organizational Capacity: Capacity Rating 4 stars **** Primary Revenue Growth: 6.9% Program Expenses Growth: 6.1% Working Capital Ratio (years) 4.0 (HWZOA can sustain itself for 4.0 years without generating new revenue.) Organizational capacity refers to an organization’s ability to sustain itself over time. Charities that exhibit consistent revenue and expenses growth are more like to sustain their programs and services over the long haul.

HWZOA has net assets of $674,007,498. Compensation for its Executive Director, Morlie Levin, was $275,000 which represents 0.2% of expenses. For comparison purposes, compensation for the President of the American Jewish World Service, Ruth Messinger, was $191,000 which represent 0.79% of expenses.


Recent News: In October, HWZOA announced that Intel and Hadassah College Jerusalem are collaborating with education departments in various municipalities to create ‘The Best in Education’, an innovative program which utilizes quality resources by enabling volunteers from the private sector to contribute to science and technology education. Volunteers will offer their experience and personal leadership in an institutionalized fashion as part of an academic team at various schools. This month, twenty-seven engineers from Intel began preparations for teaching. They are currently receiving training for an ‘Instructional Support’ role in the fields of science and technology. The curriculum for the training program has been developed by Hadassah College Jerusalem, and is currently in session at the Intel campus in Petach Tikva.

Recommendation: According to Charity Navigator, HWZOA is a highly efficient non-profit with consistent revenue and expenses growth. It is likely to sustain itself over the long haul, especially in difficult economic times like now. It has a working capital ratio of four years, thus HWZOA will be able to sustain its programs even if there is large drop-off in donations.

Next week’s blog: Yeshiva University will be re-evaluated in light of the recent Madoff financial scandal