Washington, D.C. · Nonprofit
HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE
HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 796 organizations whose IRS filings report $173,822,694 to it, the largest being THE SHIMON BEN JOSEPH FOUNDATION DBA JIM JOSEPH FOUNDATION ($34,559,675). 418 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- Revenue FY2025
- $73M
- Funders on record
- 796
- Grants received
- $174M
- Net assets
- $70M
What Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life does
Mission
Hillel's mission is to enrich the lives of jewish undergraduate and graduate students so that they may enrich the jewish people and the world.
As stated on its FY2025 Form 990.
Programs
Hillel International functions as a trip organizer for young Jewish adults to engage in immersive experiences in Israel, among other countries. These trips have a goal of providing meaningful opportunities to travel with other Hillel students and staff, deepening connection to Jewish identity, and advancing our movement wide goals of student engagement and leadership development. Hillel International enables this work through its campus connections.
$5,737,887 spent$4,002,971 earned by the program10% of program spendingHillel's israel action and addressing antisemitism program (iap) is a leading provider of israel education and engagement on college campuses, equipping students to navigate an increasingly challenging environment. As anti-israel and antisemitic activity take on more overt and exclusionary forms, iap provides ongoing support for campuses facing crises while also creating opportunities for positive israel engagement through broad-reaching programs and experiences. Through proactive programming, crisis response, and post-crisis support, iap strengthens campus hillels and fosters a sense of community among pro-israel students. By building comprehensive israel engagement plans and providing critical resources, iap ensures that jewish students feel empowered to express their identity and advocate for israel. Through these efforts, iap helps create a new generation of student activists who confidently support israel while maintaining connections with their broader campus communities. The hillel international israel leadership network (iln) empowers a new generation of top israel focused student leaders across north american campuses through education, advocacy, and community engagement.…
$5,541,554 spentof which $640,723 as grants$119,000 earned by the program10% of program spendingTalent grants provide local hillels with campus support directors, as well as resources to recruit, retain and train top talent. Talent grants have infused the movement with funds in talent investments, distributed across 400 grants, training programs, scholarships, and conference subsidies, impacting over 160 local hillels.
$5,237,259 spentof which $2,526,833 as grants9% of program spendingOther program activities
$19,100,782 spentof which $3,992,923 as grants$3,107,540 earned by the program34% of program spendingInnovation
$4,718,203 spentof which $87,141 as grants$164,824 earned by the program8% of program spendingInternational similar to the u.s. Hillel has affiliates across the globe including europe, south america, and russia. Hillel fundraises on behalf of these organizations through us based donors and foundations as well foundations and donors internationally.
$3,938,349 spentof which $2,063,556 as grants$53,015 earned by the program7% of program spendingA measurement program, designed to assess the success of local hillels on key student outcomes, outputs that correlate with those outcomes, and the key drivers of hillel's success (money, talent, etc.). Hillels receive valuable performance and benchmarking data and are using the data to help them tell their story, inform their strategies, and raise funds. The data is also used to evaluate the best ways hillel international can support hillels on the path to excellence. Currently 126 north american hillels and 8 international hillels participate in the measurement program.
$3,881,022 spentof which $3,278 as grants7% of program spendingSpringboard fellowship that brings recent college grads with passion for building jewish life and skills in innovation or jewish education to college campuses across north america. There are springboard fellows across 65+ campuses focusing on social justice, innovation and ezra jewish education. Iact, inspired, active, committed, transformed, is a comprehensive strategy that leverages birthright israel to transform jewish life on campus. Iact's mission is to ensure that every jewish student has the opportunity to participate in a meaningful immersive israel experience and be supported on a journey of jewish discovery before, during, and after that experience. Iact achieves its goals by providing funding, resources, lesser-affiliate and support for a dedicated campus professional who will identify and engage first-year students and sophomores, recruit them to join a birthright israel trip, and steward their involvement in jewish campus life.
$3,717,282 spentof which $2,343,134 as grants7% of program spendingIact, inspired, active, committed, transformed, is a comprehensive strategy that leverages birthright israel to transform jewish life on campus. Iact's mission is to ensure that every jewish student has the opportunity to participate in a meaningful immersive israel experience and be supported on a journey of jewish discovery before, during, and after that experience. Iact achieves its goals by providing funding, resources, lesser-affiliate and support for a dedicated campus professional who willidentify and engage first-year students and sophomores, recruit them to join a birthright israel trip, and steward their involvement in jewish campus life.
$2,484,831 spentof which $1,296,884 as grants4% of program spendingMeyerhoff
$1,972,295 spentof which $1,255,654 as grants4% of program spending
The 10 programs described on its FY2024 Form 990, listed largest first by expense. Program spending in total: $56,329,464.
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 2023 to 2024, from $59M to $69M (+18%).
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: 2022 5% · 2023 3% · 2024 4%. Grants only. Government contracts and fees sit inside program revenue.
87% of HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE’s revenue is contributions — more donation-reliant than the typical peer (84% for the typical peer).
Surplus & reserves
Operating surplus or deficit each year, and months of liquidity in hand. 2 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.
Chief executive
Adam Lehman
President & CEO
Board chair
Lee Dranikoff
Chair
As listed on its FY2025 Form 990.
Who funds it, year by year
2017 → 2023: the base broadened from 131 funders to 287 funders, grant income rose $15M → $25M.
51 of 796 of your funders are donor-advised or pass-through sponsors (tagged DAF) — 29% 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: $42M from 72 payers (the payer shares this organization's board, largest Jewish Communal Fund); $98k from one payer (the same organization on both sides, largest Hillel the Foundation for Jewish Campus Life). These are real filings, and they are not money HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE raised.
From the IRS filings of HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE’s funders (the co-funder graph). Top 30 of 796 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
HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE has a broad base — no single funder exceeds 20% of grant income, and it takes 5 funders to reach half.
the vertical line marks half of all grant income — 5 funders to its left
32% 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 HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE.
Largest funder’s share by year: 2017 23% · 2018 22% · 2019 39% · 2020 44% · 2021 20% · 2022 25% · 2023 22% — broadly stable.
“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
35% of HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE's funders are still giving 3 years after their first grant; 53% 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
HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE draws 99% of its grant income from funders outside Washington, D.C., across 37 states in all.
In-state vs out-of-state, by year
Funder states come from each funder’s own filing. $51M arriving through sponsors registered in 22 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
HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE is better cushioned than half of the 127 religion nonprofits its size.
this organization peer median middle 50% of peers· 127 religion nonprofits $10M–$100M, FY2025
Organizations like HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE
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 Washington, D.C.
Nationally
Read directly from this organization’s own Form 990, as neutral context.
Where the money goes
81% of spending goes to programs.
Governance
Public support
63%
Share of support from the public (Schedule A) — the basis for its public-charity status.
Footprint & structure
Files a return copy in 52 states
Screen this organization
A dated, signed PDF of the compliance screen for HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE: 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 HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE?
- HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE (Washington, D.C.) receives grants from 796 organizations whose IRS filings report $173,822,694 to it, the largest being THE SHIMON BEN JOSEPH FOUNDATION DBA JIM JOSEPH FOUNDATION ($34,559,675). 418 of them have funded it in more than one year.
- How many funders does HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE have?
- IRS filings report 796 organizations giving $173,822,694 in grants to HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE, 418 of which have funded it in more than one year.
- Who is the largest funder of HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE?
- THE SHIMON BEN JOSEPH FOUNDATION DBA JIM JOSEPH FOUNDATION is the largest funder on record, with $34,559,675 in grants. The full list of funders is on this page.
- How can an organization like HILLEL THE FOUNDATION FOR JEWISH CAMPUS LIFE find more funders?
- Start with the funders already giving here, then look at the foundations that back similar organizations in Washington, D.C.. 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 796 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 22, 2026. What this page cannot tell you · view filing