Philanthropy, Voluntarism, and Grantmaking

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Planting Seeds, Growing Communities

aka Hebrew Free Loan Association   |   Beachwood, OH   |  https://interestfree.org/

Mission

The mission of HFLA of Northeast Ohio is to provide interest-free loans to address the financial challenges of residents of Northeast Ohio who lack access to traditional lending sources. Vision Empower individuals of Northeast Ohio to become economically self-sufficient and financially secure.

Ruling year info

1942

Executive Director

Ms. Michal Marcus

Director of Programs and Community Outreach

Ms. Katy M. Fuerst

Main address

23300 Chagrin Blvd Ste 204

Beachwood, OH 44122 USA

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EIN

34-0281800

Cause area (NTEE code) info

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (T01)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (L01)

Alliance/Advocacy Organizations (S01)

IRS filing requirement

This organization is required to file an IRS Form 990 or 990-EZ.

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Communication

Blog

Programs and results

What we aim to solve

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

HFLA of Northeast Ohio helps those with unexpected financial hurdles to help themselves through interest-free lending. HFLA is provides initial dollars to small business owners in order to launch their business. HFLA helps fill shortfalls of funds for pursuing education. Improve our borrower's credit score to move them towards having access to traditional lending sources.

Our programs

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

What are the organization's current programs, how do they measure success, and who do the programs serve?

General Loan Fund

We make interest and fee free loans to people who have run into temporary difficulties.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Education - Undergraduate, vocational and technical training, graduate school. Gap years

Population(s) Served
Adults

Help individuals who have gotten stuck in Payday loan situations and cannot break the cycle escape with an interest free loan.

Population(s) Served
General/Unspecified

Business loans for businesses that don't have access to conventional funds.

Population(s) Served
Adults

Interest free loan fund for residents of the Mt. Pleasant neighborhood through the generosity of a grant from The Saint Luke's Foundation. This loan fund will address home repair and purchasing of side yards as well as assistance with GED education.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Budget
$50,000

Interest Free loans to help people cited by Cleveland Municipal Housing court in need of help to make repairs or stay in their homes. Thanks to the Generosity of the Charles & Helen Brown Memorial Fund.

Population(s) Served
Adults
Budget
$20,000

Interest free loan fund for residents of the Buckeye and Fairfax neighborhoods without access to conventional funds created through the generosity of The George Gund Foundation

Population(s) Served
Adults
Budget
$50,000

Interest-free loans for furloughed government workers

Population(s) Served
General/Unspecified

Interest-free loans for residents of Slavic Village who meet the needed criteria

Population(s) Served
General/Unspecified

Expedited interest-free emergency loans of up to $1500 for those impacted economically during the pandemic

Population(s) Served
General/Unspecified

Where we work

Affiliations & memberships

Dominion Energy Community Partnership Award 2020

Videos

Our results

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

How does this organization measure their results? It's a hard question but an important one.

Number of loans issued

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Population(s) Served

Adults,Aging, elderly, senior citizens,Economically disadvantaged, low-income, and poor people

Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Our lending continues to grow and reach more people in Northeast Ohio without access to conventional Funds.

Total dollar amount of loans issued

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

Amount lent interest free annually in Northeast Ohio.

Total dollar amount of grants awarded

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

With program growth we have been focusing on working with foundations to meet the growing need in Northeast Ohio.

Percentage of loans written off

This metric is no longer tracked.
Totals By Year
Type of Metric

Output - describing our activities and reach

Direction of Success

Increasing

Context Notes

We take into account up to a 3% default rate on our loans, but the past 6 years have a 1% or lower default rate.

Our Sustainable Development Goals

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Learn more about Sustainable Development Goals.

Charting impact

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Five powerful questions that require reflection about what really matters - results.

What is the organization aiming to accomplish?

We believe that interest-free loans enable Northeast Ohioans to overcome financial hurdles, pursue education, and contribute to the economic development of our community. We work for a future where everyone has access to the capital that they need to succeed. Our goal is to increase our loan fund capacity so we can reach more people that would benefit from this resource.

* To ensure that all Northeast Ohioans are aware of our services. * To have the capacity to serve all of the demand for our services. * To be known and trusted by all of the partners who serve our target audiences.

* HFLA is the only interest-free lender supporting all Northeast Ohioans with a need and an ability to repay. * We help people overcome financial hurdles, pursue education, and contribute to the economic development of our community. * We help people escape from predatory loans. * We help people attend college. * We help people develop news skill to succeed in the workforce. * We help people purchase and repair cars so that they can get to work. * We help people get over unexpected financial hurdles, such as a home repair, an unanticipated tax obligation, or falling behind on bills. * We help business owners start or scale up a business when there is no easy access to other capital. * HFLA lends when there are no other providers of capital, we are often the difference between success and failure for our clients. * HFLA loans have over a 97% repayment rate. This means that the money invested in HFLA is recycled for generations. * HFLA has made thousands of loans in Northeast Ohio since 1904.

We have less then a 3% default rate. This shows that our ability to help with relationship lending is working. We get notes from past clients of their successes, and often donations of client paying it forward. We will continue to grow our loan fund. We will help our borrowers increase their credit scores, and as a result see them have more resources at their disposal.

We have increased the number and amounts of loans made. We have started reporting credit for our borrowers. We served as leaders in Ohio on the Coalition for Payday lending reform, and bi-partisan legislation was passed in 2018 to regulate these predatory lenders.

How we listen

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

Seeking feedback from people served makes programs more responsive and effective. Here’s how this organization is listening.

done We demonstrated a willingness to learn more by reviewing resources about feedback practice.
done We shared information about our current feedback practices.

  • How is the organization collecting feedback?

    We regularly collect feedback through: electronic surveys (by email, tablet, etc.), focus groups or interviews (by phone or in person), constituent (client or resident, etc.) advisory committees, suggestion box/email.

  • How is the organization using feedback?

    We use feedback to: to identify and remedy poor client service experiences, to identify bright spots and enhance positive service experiences, to make fundamental changes to our programs and/or operations, to inform the development of new programs/projects, to identify where we are less inclusive or equitable across demographic groups, to strengthen relationships with the people we serve.

  • With whom is the organization sharing feedback?

    We share feedback with: the people we serve, our staff, our board, our funders, our community partners.

  • What challenges does the organization face when collecting feedback?

    It is difficult to: it is difficult to get the people we serve to respond to requests for feedback, staff find it hard to prioritize feedback collection and review due to lack of time.

Financials

HFLA of Northeast Ohio
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Operations

The people, governance practices, and partners that make the organization tick.

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

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Connect with nonprofit leaders

Subscribe

Build relationships with key people who manage and lead nonprofit organizations with GuideStar Pro. Try a low commitment monthly plan today.

  • Analyze a variety of pre-calculated financial metrics
  • Access beautifully interactive analysis and comparison tools
  • Compare nonprofit financials to similar organizations

Want to see how you can enhance your nonprofit research and unlock more insights? Learn More about GuideStar Pro.

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Board of directors
as of 5/19/2020
SOURCE: Self-reported by organization
Board chair

Laura Kleinman

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Term: 2019 - 2022

Laura Kleinman

HFLA

Carrie Miller

HFLA

Debbie Shaw

HFLA

David Edelman

HFLA

Dara Weinerman Steinberg

HFLA

Brian Rosenfelt

HFLA

Scott Lewis

HFLA

Lorie Gelb

HFLA

Jason Powers

HFLA

Stuart Ostro

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Cathy Daniel

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Carol Willen

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Irwin Lowenstein

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Christine Weiss

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Karil Bialostocky

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Jonathan Brown

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Lisa Lowe

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Eric Kaston

HFLA of Northeast Ohio

Board leadership practices

SOURCE: Self-reported by organization

GuideStar worked with BoardSource, the national leader in nonprofit board leadership and governance, to create this section.

  • Board orientation and education
    Does the board conduct a formal orientation for new board members and require all board members to sign a written agreement regarding their roles, responsibilities, and expectations? Yes
  • CEO oversight
    Has the board conducted a formal, written assessment of the chief executive within the past year ? Yes
  • Ethics and transparency
    Have the board and senior staff reviewed the conflict-of-interest policy and completed and signed disclosure statements in the past year? Yes
  • Board performance
    Has the board conducted a formal, written self-assessment of its performance within the past three years? Yes

Keywords

Economic Development, Education, emergencies, small business, escape from predatory lenders, home repair, and more