HIAS: The $141 Million Jewish Organization Whose Work Is Almost Entirely for Non-Jews — A Form 990 Audit

OLAM RESEARCH · FULL STUDY

$140.6 million in revenue. 60,014 refugees resettled. $50.5 million in net assets destroyed in under two years. $54.2 million in combined net losses. A $20–40 million budget error. The chief financial officer removed. Consecutive material weaknesses flagged by independent auditors. 40% of headquarters staff fired. Three people in the CEO chair between late 2024 and October 2025. One program that directly serves Jewish beneficiaries — frozen since January 2025.

Still a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.

This is a Form 990 audit of HIAS Inc (EIN 13-5633307), via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer. Every number comes from HIAS's own IRS filings, independent audits, and public disclosures. The question that organizes this investigation: HIAS began as an organization created to rescue Jews. It transformed into a federally financed refugee agency serving overwhelmingly non-Jewish populations. The mission changed. The institutional standing didn't. Why?

I. The Mission That Changed

The Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society was incorporated in 1903 from predecessor organizations dating to 1881. For a century, it rescued Jews. Ellis Island processing. Holocaust survivors. Cuban Jews. Soviet Jews. HIAS estimates that the families of more than half of the current American Jewish community were at one point supported by its programming.

By the late 1990s, there were no more large groups of Jews in need of migration assistance. HIAS leadership made a deliberate decision: pivot from helping Jews to helping everyone. The State Department had asked HIAS to help resettle Vietnamese refugees as early as 1975. The name change from "Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society" to simply "HIAS" occurred in 1975, per the Forward. The mission shift accelerated through the 2000s. By 2013, HIAS was one of nine agencies contracted by the State Department for general refugee resettlement — operating under a Jewish name.

HIAS's own tagline captures the entire institutional story:

"We used to help refugees because they were Jewish; now we help refugees because we are Jewish."

Its FAQ: "Today, most refugees aren't Jewish." Its headquarters moved from New York to Silver Spring, Maryland — closer to the federal agencies that fund it than to the Jewish community it claims to represent.

II. Follow the Money: $31 Million to $149 Million to Collapse

2013–2018: Steady-state. Revenue: $31M–$50M. HIAS operated as a solvent mid-size nonprofit. Hetfield's compensation: $285K–$359K.

2019–2020: Trump 1.0. Revenue: $56M–$76M. HIAS sued the Trump administration over the travel ban. Hetfield called the refugee ban "the most vile thing I've seen come out of the White House in my 28 years." Revenue grew 77% during Trump's first term. Whether the political confrontation caused the fundraising growth or merely coincided with it, the correlation is documented. After the October 2018 Pittsburgh synagogue shooting — in which the gunman invoked HIAS by name — donations from non-Jews exceeded donations from Jews for the first time in HIAS's history.

2021–2022: Biden. Revenue: $119M–$149M. The Biden administration gave HIAS nearly $500 million in government grants across four years — more than five times what HIAS received under Trump 1.0, per the Forward. Revenue peaked at $149 million in FY2022. Net assets reached $91.6 million. The organization hired aggressively and expanded to 20+ countries.

FY2023–FY2024: The collapse.

In February 2024, employees discovered a budget error. Per the Forward, HIAS had overspent its budget by at least $20 million. Employees said the shortfall was as high as $40 million. The chief financial officer, Lara Moninghoff, was removed. A 2023 IRS audit cited inconsistencies in how HIAS tracked its assets, liabilities, and revenue — including improperly recording unconditional donations as "deferred revenue." HIAS reduced its general operating allocation by $20.9 million.

FY2023 (stub year, Jan–Sep 2023): $88M revenue, $131M expenses. Net loss: $42.9 million. FY2024 (Oct 2023–Sep 2024): $141M revenue, $152M expenses. Net loss: $11.3 million. Net assets collapsed from $91.6 million to $41.1 million — a $50.5 million decline in under two years.

Independent auditors flagged material weakness in internal controls in both FY2023 and FY2024 — meaning the deficiency was severe enough that it could lead to failure to prevent or correct financial noncompliance. A separate FY2025 audit flagged significant deficiency. In 2015, HIAS disclosed a significant diversion of assets exceeding $250,000 or 5% of gross receipts.

2025: Trump 2.0. Trump canceled contracts with HIAS and other resettlement agencies. HIAS fired or furloughed 40% of U.S. headquarters staff. International offices shuttered. Hundreds more laid off globally. Hetfield called it a "death blow." HIAS Pennsylvania's budget fell from $11 million to $5 million, staff from 88 to 49.

III. Executive Compensation While the Organization Lost $11.3 Million

Mark Hetfield served as president and CEO from 2013 to December 2024. In FY2024 — the year HIAS lost $11.3 million — his compensation was $396,242 plus $21,621 in other compensation: $417,863 total. The FY2024 990 also flagged first-class or charter travel for key employees or officers — reported on Schedule J.

Ten HIAS officers earned above $190,000 in FY2024. EVP/COO Sabrina Lustgarten Bejman: $275K + $41K. General Counsel Mark Cohen: $234K. Chief Institutional Development Officer Jessica Reese: $232K. The CFO who was subsequently removed, Lara Moninghoff: $230K + $40K.

Hetfield's compensation trajectory across the decade: $285K (2013) → $318K (2014) → $359K (2015) → $316K (2016) → $295K (2017) → $301K (2018) → $359K (2019) → $346K (2020) → $328K (2021) → $337K (2022) → $396K (2024).

IV. The Leadership Transition

Hetfield stepped down as CEO in December 2024 while retaining the title of president. David Weiss (formerly of Global Communities) served as interim CEO from approximately October 2024 to April 2025. Dr. Beth Oppenheim was appointed CEO in October 2025 — HIAS's first female CEO — after a ten-month executive search. She had joined HIAS in 2023 as chief advancement officer.

Oppenheim inherited an organization that had lost $50 million in net assets, fired 40% of its staff, lost its government funding, and was operating under consecutive material-weakness audit findings. Her description: "This is an opportunity for us to showcase that we have survived."

V. The Board

Olam reviewed the board composition disclosed in HIAS's FY2024 990 filing and cross-referenced public biographical information for all named directors and officers. The board includes multiple figures with documented connections to the Democratic Party and Obama-era government service. Olam's review did not identify a comparable Republican-aligned director in the records reviewed.

Chair: Tamar Newberger (assumed July 2024). Computer scientist — AT&T Bell Labs, Novell, SCO. Served as Midwest Finance Co-Chair of Harris for President. Her husband served as U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic.

Secretary-Treasurer: Leon Rodriguez. Former director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services under Obama. Implemented DACA.

Director: Julius Genachowski. Managing director, Carlyle Group. Former FCC Chairman under Obama (2009–2013). Obama transition advisory board. President's Intelligence Advisory Board (2013–2017).

Director: Stafford Fitzgerald Haney. Former U.S. Ambassador to Costa Rica under Obama.

Former chair: Jeff Blattner. Former chief counsel to Senator Edward Kennedy. Served on Obama and Clinton presidential transitions.

Director: Daniel Tavakoli. Iranian-American, resettled by HIAS in the 1980s. Treasurer of Queens College Hillel Board and member of the AIPAC National Council — one of the few board members with connections to both progressive and pro-Israel institutional infrastructure.

VI. What Jewish Work Does HIAS Do? Three Categories

HIAS argues that all of its work is Jewish — grounded in Jewish values, conducted through Jewish partnerships, motivated by Jewish history. This audit distinguishes three categories.

Category 1: Work directly serving Jewish beneficiaries.

One program: Lautenberg Amendment resettlement. HIAS helped resettle Jews and religious minorities from Iran and the former Soviet Union under this federal program. Trump halted it in January 2025, leaving 14,000 approved beneficiaries (including Jews) stranded. This program — the only one that directly serves Jewish beneficiaries — has been frozen since.

Category 2: Work conducted through Jewish communal institutions.

National Refugee Shabbat: liturgical readings and action items distributed to synagogues — overwhelmingly Reform and Progressive. No Orthodox, Chabad, or Young Israel congregations appear in public Refugee Shabbat coverage reviewed by Olam. Welcome Campaign: congregations publicly declare support for refugee rights. Spring Advocacy Week: congregants organized to lobby Congress on refugee admissions. These programs use Jewish communal infrastructure as the distribution channel for refugee advocacy. They do not provide Jewish education, identity programming, or any service that builds Jewish institutional life.

Category 3: General humanitarian work justified through Jewish values.

U.S. refugee resettlement (60,014 in FY2024, through 31 affiliates). International programs in 20+ countries. HIAS Israel — which provides legal services to African asylum seekers in south Tel Aviv and has opposed Israeli government deportation policy. This work is operationally indistinguishable from the other eight federal resettlement agencies: Church World Service, the International Rescue Committee, World Relief, and others.

The question for the Jewish community is whether an organization whose only direct-Jewish-beneficiary program is frozen, whose Jewish programming consists of refugee advocacy distributed through Reform synagogues, and whose Israel operation has opposed Israeli government policy should hold institutional standing as a representative of American Jewry.

VII. The Political Record

HIAS sued the Trump administration over the travel ban multiple times (Jewish Family Service v. Trump, Pacito v. Trump). Its congressional testimony stated: "We could not remain silent as Muslim refugees were turned away just for being Muslim." HIAS joined a 2017 letter defending Linda Sarsour, who has denied Israel's legitimacy as a Jewish state. A HIAS local affiliate partnered with CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) on Syrian refugee resettlement; Hetfield said it was a one-time local arrangement.

The Olam Conference of Presidents Political Audit scored HIAS as Tier 1 left-aligned — one of ten Conference member organizations actively suing or opposing the Trump administration.

VIII. The Conference of Presidents Question

The most sustained institutional criticism of HIAS has come from inside the Conference of Presidents itself. ZOA president Morton Klein called HIAS "more a Muslim Organization than Jewish." ZOA formally sought HIAS's expulsion, arguing it "fails to meet the COP Processes & Procedures" requirements.

In 2020, when former HIAS chair Dianne Lob was nominated to chair the Conference, Klein campaigned against her: "Trump of course hates HIAS and now Trump will want nothing to do with the Conference." ZOA and CAMERA forced a compromise delaying Lob's chairmanship. HIAS filed a formal complaint against ZOA. ZOA counter-filed seeking HIAS's expulsion. The Conference rebuked ZOA for "insults, ad hominem attacks and name-calling."

But the underlying question was never resolved: does an organization whose direct beneficiaries are overwhelmingly non-Jewish, whose revenue is dominated by federal grants, and whose primary activity is general refugee resettlement meet the criteria for membership in the body that claims to represent the American Jewish community?

IX. The Mission Changed. The Institutional Standing Didn't.

HIAS in mid-2026: $141 million in revenue dominated by federal grants. 60,014 refugees resettled. $50.5 million in net assets destroyed. Consecutive material weaknesses. A $20–40 million budget error. One direct-Jewish-beneficiary program — frozen. An Israel operation that has opposed Israeli government policy. A board with multiple Democratic and Obama-administration connections. Still a Conference of Presidents member.

Church World Service resettles refugees. The International Rescue Committee resettles refugees. World Relief resettles refugees. None of them claim to represent the American Jewish community. None of them sit on the Conference of Presidents. None of them invoke the Holocaust and the Torah to fundraise.

HIAS does.

HIAS began as an organization created to rescue Jews. It transformed into something else. The mission changed. The institutional standing didn't. The 990s document both the transformation and its consequences.

Source data: HIAS Inc Form 990 filings (EIN 13-5633307), FY2013–FY2024, via ProPublica Nonprofit Explorer; HIAS Foundation Inc (EIN 87-4477821), via ProPublica; federal audit reports via Federal Audit Clearinghouse; HIAS published financial statements; reporting by the Forward, eJewishPhilanthropy, JNS, Jewish Insider, Times of Israel, and Ynet; InfluenceWatch; HIAS.org public disclosures; Conference of Presidents published membership records. Related coverage: Conference of Presidents Political Audit; Conference of Presidents Institutional Deep-Dive; AIPAC: Institutional Mandate and Governance. Data current as of August 2026.