California · Nonprofit
Jewish Film Institute
Jewish Film Institute (California) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,025,272 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA ($2,318,569). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- Revenue FY2024
- $1.6M
- Funders on record
- 68
- Grants received
- $7.0M
- Net assets
- $1.5M
What Jewish Film Institute does
Mission
The Jewish Film Institute champions bold films and filmmakers that expand and evolve the Jewish story for audiences everywhere. Through its exhibition and artist development programs, JFI celebrates the spirit of film, inquiry, independence, collaboration, community, and inclusion to turn conversation into action, reframe understanding of Jewish cultures and identities, and nurture networks of filmmakers and artists. Its signature program, the annual San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF), is the worlds first and most revered showcase of independent Jewish film, taking place throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. JFI provides significant support for filmmakers and artists exploring Jewish themes and identities, including the JFI Completion Grants, which provide finishing funds to jury-selected projects, and creative, marketing, and production support for its annual cohort of Filmmakers in Residence. JFI also presents the Mitzvah Series at assisted living facilities and penitentiari
As stated on its FY2024 Form 990.
Programs
The San Francisco Jewish Film Festival (SFJFF) is the signature program of the Jewish Film Institute. JFI held a 16-day festival, with in-person weeks of screenings at the Herbst Theatre, AMC Kabuki 8, the Roxie, the Vogue, and the SFJCC in SF, and at the Piedmont Theatre in the East Bay. The festival show-cased more than sixty-five films from twenty countries for a worldwide audience and presented conversations and Q&As with filmmakers.
$720,916 spent$209,243 earned by the program52% of program spendingJFIs Filmmakers in Residence honed their creative visions during the year-long residency through workshops, training, peer-to-peer mentorship, and JFIs fifth annual Pitch & Kvell, during which Residents presented their projects to industry veterans and the JFI community for feedback and guidance. The purpose of the residency is to support filmmakers who are working on films with Jewish content by providing consulting and mentorship from JFI's program staff who are all working filmmakers. The Filmmaker in Residence program has been in existence for 12 years and, through this program, JFI is creating a community of filmmakers. In 2024 JFI mentored 6 Residents.
$363,685 spent26% of program spendingThe JFI Completion Grants Program, the first and only US-based source of finishing funds for Jewish-content films of all genres, awarded $98,000 to seven original projects in its fifth year. Since the programs launch in 2020, well over half of JFIs grantees have completed their films. Many have premiered at leading international film festivals to awards recognition and critical acclaim. The program supports original stories that promote thoughtful consideration of Jewish history, life, culture, and identity. Priorities are given to projects that offer fresh, challenging perspectives; reflect untold stories or under-represented communities; and engage audiences across cultural lines.
$305,496 spentof which $98,000 as grants22% of program spending
The 3 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $1,390,097.
The organization over time
Each line starts at 100 in 2018, so what you read is the shape rather than the size: 150 means half as much again as 2018, 50 means half. The number beside each label in the key is where it ended. The shaded band is where the middle 50% of its peers' revenue would sit, given their growth.
Balance sheet
Total assets and total liabilities at each year end, in dollars. The largest one-year move in total assets was 2023 to 2024, from $2.2M to $1.6M (−28%).
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.
Government-grant reliance: 2018 4% · 2019 7% · 2020 9% · 2021 22% · 2022 19% · 2023 14% · 2024 10%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
85% of Jewish Film Institute’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (63% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 1 of the last 7 reported years ran a deficit.
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.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 26 funders to 32 funders, grant income rose $580k → $1.1M.
19 of 68 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 50% of grant dollars received. That money is really individual donors directing a sponsor; the institutions to cultivate are the non-DAF funders.
From the IRS filings of Jewish Film Institute’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 68 funders by total. 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
Jewish Film Institute has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 33% of grant income, and it takes 4 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 4 funders to its left
61% 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 Jewish Film Institute.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 26% · 2018 18% · 2019 36% · 2020 35% · 2021 49% · 2022 40% · 2023 28% — 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.
How long its funders stay
53% of Jewish Film Institute's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 72% give in more than one year at all.
Share of funders still giving k years after their first recorded grant, pooled across every acquisition cohort. A funder counts as retained in a year only if it made a grant that year. Measured to FY2023, the last fiscal year that has finished arriving — a funder cannot be counted as lapsed in a year most filers have not reached.
Where its funders are
50% of Jewish Film Institute'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 $3.5M that is directly attributable, 85% of it comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $3.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 11 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.
Against its field
Jewish Film Institute receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $7.0M to it.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 5,127 arts & culture nonprofits $1M–$10M, FY2024
Organizations like Jewish Film Institute
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 California
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
70% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
94%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 1 state
Part of a family of 1 related entity
- Ninth Street Media Consortium · exempt
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for Jewish Film Institute: 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.
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 Jewish Film Institute?
- Jewish Film Institute (California) receives grants from 68 organizations whose IRS filings report $7,025,272 to it, the largest being JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA ($2,318,569). 49 of them have funded it in more than one year, and 50% of the money arrives through donor-advised or pass-through sponsors rather than from an institution directly.
- How many funders does Jewish Film Institute have?
- IRS filings report 68 organizations giving $7,025,272 in grants to Jewish Film Institute, 49 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of Jewish Film Institute?
- JEWISH COMMUNITY FEDERATION OF SAN FRANCISCO THE PENINSULA MARIN & SONOMA is the largest funder on record, with $2,318,569 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like Jewish Film Institute find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in California. 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 FY2024 (financials across 2018–2024), and the filings of 68 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