Skip to content

Illinois · Nonprofit

HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF

HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $417,123 to it, the largest being JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ($216,826). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.

Revenue FY2025
$2.4M
Funders on record
4
Grants received
$417k
Net assets
$2.2M
3/4 repeat funderspeak grant-dependency 38%
01What it does

What Hebrew Seminary of the Deaf does

Mission

To provide advanced judaic education for the jewish deaf and hearing community and to prepare candidates for rabbinical ordination.

As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.

Program

  1. Hebrew seminary is a pluralistic, egalitarian rabbinical school that educates people to become rabbis and pararabbis for jewish and multi-faith communities. Hebrew seminary was founded in 1992 to meet the spiritual needs of the jewish deaf and hearing, as well as other underserved communities. Our curriculum is grounded in bible, hebrew and talmud, and incorporates jewish ethics and history. Our online courses attract a diverse student body from across north america. While all required coursework for our programs can be completed online, we also host learning opportunities onsite in chicago. The rabbinic program is a 5-year course of study for full-time students, and the pararabbinic program is a 2-year course of study for full-time students. Our graduates serve as congregational rabbis, spiritual counselors. Professors, education directors, hillel directors and chaplains, at universities, hospitals and more.

    $697,253 spentof which $484,929 as grants$98,072 earned by the program
    100% of program spending

The program described on its FY2024 Form 990. Program spending in total: $697,253.

02The organization over time

The organization over time

Each line starts at 100 in 2017, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2017, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended.

100 = 20172017 Revenue 100 ($316k) Expenses 100 ($244k) Net assets 100 ($1.9M)2018 Revenue 75 ($236k) Expenses 105 ($258k) Net assets 99 ($1.9M)2019 Revenue 77 ($242k) Expenses 111 ($270k) Net assets 97 ($1.9M)2020 Revenue 71 ($225k) Expenses 90 ($220k) Net assets 98 ($1.9M)2021 Revenue 91 ($288k) Expenses 117 ($285k) Net assets 96 ($1.8M)2022 Revenue 85 ($270k) Expenses 115 ($281k) Net assets 95 ($1.8M)2023 Revenue 91 ($286k) Expenses 127 ($310k) Net assets 94 ($1.8M)2024 Revenue 87 ($275k) Expenses 110 ($268k) Net assets 94 ($1.8M)2025 Revenue 776 ($2.4M) Expenses 339 ($829k) Net assets 116 ($2.2M)
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Revenue (776)Expenses (339)Net assets (116)

Balance sheet

Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2024 to 2025, from $1.8M to $2.2M (+23%).

$1.9M
$1.9M
$1.9M
$1.9M
$1.9M
$1.8M
$1.8M
$1.8M
$2.2M
'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Total assetsTotal liabilities

How it's funded, over time

Each bar is one year's revenue split into where it came from, and every bar is the same height — these are shares, not amounts, so a year that raised twice as much looks the same size. Hover a bar for the split.

2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025
ContributionsProgram revenueInvestmentOther

Government-grant reliance: 2021 13% · 2022 12%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.

Surplus & reserves

Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 4 of the last 9 reported years ran a deficit.

$71k
’17
−$22k
’18
−$29k
’19
$5k
’20
$2k
’21
−$11k
’22
−$24k
’23
$7k
’24
$1.6M
’25
1.1
months of
reserve

Leadership and staff

The officers, directors, trustees and key employees listed on each return. Joined and no longer listed compare each filing with the year before, matching people by surname and first initial; a year after a gap, or a roster under three people, has no comparison.

Board chair

Debra Nesselson

Chairperson of the board

As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.

'17'18'19'20'21'22'23'24'25
Listed222222131213
Joined·······+2+1
No longer listed·······30
03Who funds it

Who funds it, year by year

2017 → 2023: the base narrowed from 4 funders to 1 funder, grant income fell $119k → $22k.

Funder
'17
'18
'19
'20
'21
'22
'23
'24*
'25*
total
$50k
funders
4
3
2
2
2
2
1
1
1

2 of 4 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 54% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.

Left out of every figure on this page: $2.2M from one payer (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Charitable Trust of Hebrew Seminary). These are real filings, and they are not money HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF raised.

From the IRS filings of HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF’s funders (the co-funder graph). Association, not causation. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

How concentrated its funding is

HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF leans on a few funders — its largest provides 52% of grant income and the top three 98%; half comes from just 1 funder.

the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 1 funder to its left

66% of the income these shares are computed over arrives through pass-through sponsors or from payers whose filings do not say what kind of payment it is. Concentration is still measured over all of it, because the money is real; what it does not support is a claim about how many institutions have chosen to fund HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF.

52%
largest funder
98%
top three
~3
effective funders

Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 42% · 2018 45% · 2019 52% · 2020 50% · 2021 60% · 2022 52% · 2023 100% — growing more concentrated.

“Effective funders” = inverse Herfindahl index (1 / Σ shareᵢ²) — the number of equal-sized funders that would give the same concentration. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

Where its funders are

54% of HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF's grant income arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors, whose addresses record where the money is held rather than where the donor is. Of the $190k that is directly attributable, 100% of it comes from Illinois funders.

IL

In-state vs out-of-state, by year

’17
’18
’19
’20
’21
’22
Illinois out of state home

Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $227k arriving through sponsors registered in 2 states is excluded from the map and the split above: a sponsor holds money on a donor’s behalf, so its registered address would place those dollars somewhere no donor need ever have been. Trends are read to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving. FY2024–FY2026 are still being filed and are shown unshaded; they do not move any figure on this page.

04Its place in the field

Organizations like HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF

Organizations whose mission and program text most resemble this one, by semantic similarity over every organization in the US filings — the closest peers, and often the clearest route to shared or prospective funders.

In Illinois

Nationally

05Profile & governance

Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.

Where the money goes

84% of spending goes to programs.

Program 84%Management 8%Fundraising 8%

Governance

11
board members
100%
independent
✓Conflict-of-interest policy–Whistleblower policy–Document retention✓Board reviewed the 990–Audited financials

Footprint & structure

Files a return copy in 1 state

IL

Part of a family of 2 related entities

  • Charitable Trust of Hebrew Seminary · exempt
  • Third Venture Corp · corp_trust

Screen this organization

A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF: IRS status (Business Master File, Publication 78, auto-revocation), the OFAC sanctions lists, the Internal Revenue Bulletin, and California registration, with the Rev. Proc. 2018-32 §8.01 reliance elements stated element by element. Generated from the current files at the moment you download it.

A paid feature, included from the $75 plan up. Sign in to download.

Screens are triage, not determinations; a source that cannot be read reports not screened, never clear. Screen this nonprofit · How the screen works · on the API as GET /api/screening/{ein}?format=pdf

Questions and answers

Who funds HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF?
HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF (Illinois) receives grants from 4 organizations whose IRS filings report $417,123 to it, the largest being JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO ($216,826). 3 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 54% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
How many funders does HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF have?
IRS filings report 4 organizations giving $417,123 in grants to HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF, 3 of which have funded it in more than one year.
Who is the largest funder of HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF?
JEWISH FEDERATION OF METROPOLITAN CHICAGO is the largest funder on record, with $216,826 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
How can an organization like HEBREW SEMINARY OF THE DEAF find more funders?
Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Illinois. The funding by cause and by state pages list the largest funders for a given area and how to approach them.

These figures are read directly from IRS Form 990 / 990-PF e-file XML: this organization’s own return for FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 4 funders that report grants to it. “On record” means captured in the filings we have parsed — a funder that does not e-file, or whose grant detail is not itemized, will not appear. Filings run roughly 12–24 months behind. Trends on this page end at FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving; later years are shown and marked, and move no figure. Data on this page was exported October 14, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing