Jewish groups earn top marks

Charity Navigator, a non-profit organization that evaluates charities on their financial health, gave its highest rating to 52 Jewish groups. Among the top-rated were larger organizations such as the American Jewish Committee and the American Jewish World Service, as well as smaller groups like the North American Friends of Israel Oceanographic and Limnological Research. Some familiar names placed among the bottom dwellers. The Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education, the Simon Wiesenthal Center and the Zionist Organization of America all received one star, while the Jewish Campus Life Fund, which supports Jewish life at Columbia University, received no stars. The Web site, www.charitynavigator.org, bases its ratings on the charities’ tax returns from the previous year, evaluating the groups based on expenses, revenues and other financial categories. The site evaluated 244 charities it classifies as Jewish in nature.