JCRS Receives Four-Star Rating

New Orleans-based Jewish Children’s Regional Services has been given a four-star rating by Charity Navigator, the highest rating the evaluation service gives.

Ned Goldberg, JCRS executive director, said Harold Steinberg of Memphis asked him at a board meeting in January whether the organization had applied for a rating. Goldberg contacted Charity Navigator, which evaluated the organization’s tax returns and issued the rating in February.

Charity Navigator has rated over 5500 non-profit organizations. According to Ken Berger, president and CEO, “approximately a quarter of the charities we evaluate have received our highest rating, indicating that Jewish Children’s Regional Service executes its mission in a fiscally responsible way, and outperforms most other charities in America.”

The website lists over 200 Jewish charities. Among those listed as four-star organizations are ADL, birthright Israel Foundation, Hadassah, Hillel, and the Jewish Federations of Atlanta and Houston. Jewish National Fund, which had a wave of bad press over its spending in the mid-1990s, leading to a complete organizational shakeup, also received four stars.

The American Jewish Committee received 3 stars, as did B’nai B’rith. The American Jewish Congress received a no-star rating.

There were no other Jewish charities in the SJL coverage area rated by Charity Navigator.