California · Nonprofit
AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY
AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY (California) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,989,240 to it, the largest being SAUL BRANDMAN FOUNDATION ($1,503,800). 87 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $22M
- Funders on record
- 150
- Grants received
- $11M
- Net assets
- $121M
What American Jewish University does
Mission
American Jewish University (aju) advances and elevates the jewish journey of individuals, organizations and our community through excellence in scholarship, teaching, engaged conversation, and outreach. Aju is a thriving center of jewish resources and talent that serves the jewish community of the twenty-first century. A portal for jewish belonging, aju equips students, faculty, campers, and learners of all ages with the tools to create the ideas, build the structures, and develop the programs to advance jewish wisdom and elevate jewish living.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Academic and community programs:academic programs include: ba of early childhood education, master's in early childhood education, master's in business administration, mars - ziegler graduate program for the training of conservative rabbis. Other certificate programs include: jewish learning experience for high school students to earn college credit partnering with local communities to offer meaningful learning. Jewish education excellence project which is a mentor teacher certificate program. Early childhood extension program for working adults and lifelong learners to meet other passionate educators from around the country.see schedule ocommunity programs through the maas center include: introduction to judaism is a program reaching a global audience through online courses and fostering jewish connections and education for individuals from all walks of life. Our mikvah is a jewish ritual pool used to add a sacred dimension to life events, including celebrating times of joy, marking significant transitions, or healing. Bci is a transformative experience for participants ages 20-29 who come together for a multi-day retreat to connect and reconnect with themselves. Marriage for…
$8,620,463 spentof which $1,860,031 as grants$3,561,942 earned by the program46% of program spendingConference center:the American Jewish University conference program consists of the brandeis-bardin campus. The conference center at the brandeis-bardin campus is nationally recognized as a center devoted to jewish learning and culture. This location is equipped for celebrating jewish lifecycle events and an ideal environment for creative thinking and productive collaboration.
$4,110,794 spent$2,815,675 earned by the program22% of program spendingCamp alonim: camp alonim strives to spark a love for jewish culture, tradition, and community in our campers by exposing them to a multitude of ways to be jewish. We see every activity we offer as a "gateway"- a means by which they might engage with being jewish. Jewish camping has been found to be one of the most effective methods of jewish education, ensuring a jewish identity in adulthood.gan alonim- designed for children entering kindergarten through 6th grade. It is a nurturing and loving environment where children feel free to explore their world and be adventurous in a safe setting.
$3,917,247 spentof which $157,053 as grants$4,033,401 earned by the program21% of program spendingWhizin center/office for open learning creates an offers programs to help jews and others on a journey of jewish learning, connecting them to knowledge, and to teach each other through classes, lectures, tours, guest speakers and multi-media content. Classes and lectures are a mix of in-person, web, and hybrid, and feature both faculty from American Jewish University and guest speakers. Students are a cross-section of local, national, and international.resulting from the sale of the property the university completed, and cash proceeds received, several grants were paid out as designated by the endowment.
$1,972,503 spentof which $1,005,111 as grants$383,134 earned by the program11% of program spending
The 4 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $18,621,007.
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. 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 2021 to 2022, from $142M to $125M (−12%).
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: 2021 14% · 2022 7% · 2024 3% · 2025 1%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
34% of AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (23% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 7 of the last 9 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.
The chief executive listed changed between the FY2017 and FY2018, and between the FY2019 and FY2020 filings.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 41 funders to 45 funders, grant income rose $899k → $1.4M.
22 of 150 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 23% 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: $7.8M from 13 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Jewish Community Foundation of Los Angeles). These are real filings, and they are not money AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY raised.
From the IRS filings of AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 150 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
AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 14% of grant income, and it takes 9 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 9 funders to its left
36% 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 AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 56% · 2018 47% · 2019 44% · 2020 18% · 2021 15% · 2022 15% · 2023 14% — diversifying over time.
“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
36% of AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 58% 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
71% of AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY's grant income comes from California funders.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $2.5M arriving through sponsors registered in 12 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
AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY's funding base is broadening — from 41 funders to 45 as grant income climbed.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 3,758 education nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Government funding AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY receives
Grants and contracts to this organization from federal (USASpending) and state checkbooks, reconciled to its EIN. $975k on record.
- Department of Education$975k
Federal grants vs contracts are distinguished; state line items keep their reported category. Matched by name + geography (the BMF), so coverage is partial and precision-first.
Organizations like AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY
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
66% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
69%
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 5 related entities
- Aju Bbi Holdings LLC · disregarded
- Aju Peppertree Holdings LLC · disregarded
- University of Judaism Foundation · exempt
- Zsrs Fund LLC · partnership
- Brandeis Mutual Water Co · corp_trust
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY: 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 AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY?
- AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY (California) receives grants from 150 organizations whose IRS filings report $10,989,240 to it, the largest being SAUL BRANDMAN FOUNDATION ($1,503,800). 87 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY have?
- IRS filings report 150 organizations giving $10,989,240 in grants to AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY, 87 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY?
- SAUL BRANDMAN FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $1,503,800 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY 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 FY2025 (financials across 2017–2025), and the filings of 150 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