Honeymoon Israel Foundation

What Honeymoon Israel Foundation does

Honeymoon Israel Foundation (HMI) is a U.S.-based 501(c)(3) nonprofit founded in 2013–2014 by Mike Wise and Avi Rubel in response to Pew Research findings on rising Jewish intermarriage and declining youth engagement. Headquartered in Atlanta with an operational office in Tel Aviv, HMI runs heavily subsidized, cohort-based immersive group trips — 8 days and 7 nights — to Israel and, as of 2026, to Argentina. Trips serve approximately 20 couples per cohort drawn from the same U.S. or Canadian city, with at least one partner identifying as Jewish and the couple within the first years of a committed relationship; programming explicitly welcomes interfaith, multicultural, and LGBTQIA+ participants. Since launching in 2015, HMI reports 3,370+ alumni couples across 178+ trips spanning 23 cities in the U.S. and Canada, with additional alumni engagement through the Alumni Hub, micro grants, and ongoing local events.

HMI's core products are the HMI Israel Trip and HMI Argentina Trip, priced at $500 per couple (flights not included), with the Argentina program also offering a $2,900 per-couple bundle that includes flights. The actual cost of the trip experience is described as substantially higher than participant fees, with the gap funded by philanthropy. Supporting products include the Alumni Hub, Alumni Micro Grants, Trip Info Sessions, the Mifgash program (pairing Israeli couples with each cohort), and Tour Educators. Technology is non-core: the stack relies on commodity third-party tools — Classy.org for donations, TFA Forms for applications, reCAPTCHA, and Double the Donation for employer-matching — with no proprietary platform, app, or disclosed AI/ML capabilities.

The business model is philanthropic: HMI is funded by more than a dozen national foundations (Schusterman, Jim Joseph Foundation, Lippman Kanfer, one8 Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, Marcus Foundation), local Jewish Federations in each operating city, individual donors, and alumni contributions. The organization explicitly does not receive funding from the State of Israel. Disclosed Jim Joseph Foundation grants total $1.5M (2017) and $2.5M (2019). Go-to-market is community-led and referral-driven: couples apply online, are interviewed, and are placed in city cohorts; over 50% of participants arrive through friend and family referrals. The organization holds a Charity Navigator Four-Star rating and Guidestar Silver Seal of Transparency, and was named to Slingshot's 10 to Watch in 2020.

Name

Honeymoon Israel Foundation

Legal name

Honeymoon Israel

Website

https://honeymoonisrael.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2014

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

Honeymoon Israel Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that runs heavily subsidized, cohort-based 8-day immersive group trips to Israel and Argentina for young couples with at least one Jewish partner, serving 3,370+ alumni across 23 U.S. and Canadian cities.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Cultural and Religious Group Travel

NAICS

Tour Operators (561520), Tour Operators (56152)

akta.pro primary industry

Jewish Heritage & Israel Pilgrimage Travel Agencies (THAKAHAC)

Keywords

• Jewish community programs
• Group travel experiences
• Interfaith couple engagement
• Nonprofit cultural tours
• Subsidized group trips

Headquarters

HQ city

Atlanta

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Foundation Funding: HMI is a nonprofit organization supported by more than a dozen national foundations (including Schusterman, Jim Joseph Foundation, Lippman Kanfer, one8 Foundation, Crown Family Philanthropies, Marcus Foundation), local Jewish Federations and foundations, individual donors, and alumni. The organization does not receive funding from the State of Israel.
2. Participant Fees: Highly subsidized participant contribution of $500 per couple for most trips (not including flights). Some Argentina trips offer $2,900 per couple with flights included.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Honeymoon Israel Foundation (HMI) provides heavily subsidized 8-day/7-night immersive group travel experiences to Israel and Argentina for young committed couples with at least one Jewish partner. Each trip brings together approximately 20 couples from the same city for facilitated conversations, Jewish education, cultural exploration, and community building, with participants paying only $500 per couple (far below actual trip cost). Beyond the trip, HMI delivers ongoing alumni programming including local events, holiday gatherings, and micro grants for continued Jewish learning and engagement.

Product overview

Honeymoon Israel Foundation operates a portfolio of community-building programs centered around immersive group travel experiences for young couples. The core offering is the HMI Israel Trip and HMI Argentina Trip - 8-day, 7-night heavily subsidized journeys ($500 per couple) for couples early in committed relationships with at least one Jewish partner. These trips include accommodations, meals, local transportation, facilitated conversations, and experienced educators. The HMI Experience extends beyond the trip itself through the Alumni Hub (providing ongoing events, holiday guides, and Jewish resources), Alumni Micro Grants (subsidizing continued Jewish learning), and Trip Info Sessions. The organization operates across 23 cities in the U.S. and Canada, serving diverse couples including interfaith, LGBTQIA+, and multiracial families.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Alumni report increased connection to Jewish identity, Jewish community, and Israel (validated through Stanford University's SPARQ program research)

Named customers3 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration3 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Repair the WorldcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational partner providing support for Jewish community engagement and service learning components of the HMI program.
• PJ LibrarycoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerNational partner offering resources for Jewish family engagement and programming.
• IyunminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJewish educational resource partner.
• At the WellminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJewish women's wellness and engagement organization.
• iCentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerIsrael education and engagement partner supporting Israel content and perspective sharing.
• Israel Educational Travel AlliancecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTrade alliance supporting Israel trip providers with planning and coordination.
• Foundation for Jewish CampminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner supporting Jewish camp engagement and leadership development.

Scale indicators5 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Taglit-Birthright Israel: Provides subsidized group trips to Israel for Jewish young adults (18-32) — the closest direct analog to HMI's Israel offering. While Birthright targets individuals and HMI targets couples, both sell immersive, donor-subsidized Israel experiences aimed at Jewish identity formation, competing for the same donor pool and brand awareness among Jewish young adults.
• Masa Israel Journey: Organizes long-term gap-year and career programs in Israel for young Jewish adults from abroad. Co-founder Avi Rubel was Masa's founding North American Director, and HMI explicitly sends couples to Israel in the Masa tradition. Both share funder overlap (Jewish Agency) and Israel engagement mission.
• 18Doors: Engages interfaith couples and families exploring Jewish life; HMI's Director of Rabbinic Talent (Rabbi Shena Potter Jaffee) is jointly employed by 18Doors and HMI. They share the interfaith-couple target audience and similar educational programming model, making them a tightly aligned peer.
• Moishe House: Builds peer-led Jewish community for young adults in their 20s through subsidized residencies and programming. Overlaps with HMI's alumni-network strategy and target demographic, and competes for the same cohort of funders (one8 Foundation supports both).

Broad incumbents

• Hillel International: Provides Jewish life programming on college campuses for young adults; a wider-cast incumbent in Jewish young-adult engagement. Relevant because HMI's demographic (Jewish emerging adults in relationships) often transits Hillel programs first, and they share foundation funder overlap.
• Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA): The umbrella organization of local Jewish Federations that collectively fund HMI's city-level operations. A systems-level incumbent that decides philanthropic allocations affecting HMI's revenue. Board member Joe Kanfer is a past JFNA Chair.

Others

• Israel Educational Travel Alliance: A national trade association of Israel-trip providers; HMI is a Core partner. Not a direct competitor but an ecosystem player that standardizes logistics, training, and best practices that HMI leverages for its Israel operations.
• Repair the World: A national Jewish service organization and HMI Core strategic partner supporting service-learning components of HMI trips. Not a direct competitor but an adjacent ecosystem player serving overlapping young-adult demographic.

Emerging players

• PJ Library: Distributes free Jewish children's books and family programming — a Core strategic partner of HMI addressing the family-formation pipeline. Comparable in mission of building Jewish identity at scale but operates with a different delivery model (books, not trips).

Regional players

• Foundation for Jewish Camp: Supports Jewish overnight camps in North America and shares donor ecosystem with HMI (one8, Jim Joseph). Comparable as a Jewish-identity-immersion provider but focused on children/teen cohorts rather than young-adult couples.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• YouTubevimeo.com/honeymoonisrael
• Facebookfacebook.com/honeymoonisraelfoundation
• Instagraminstagram.com/honeymoonisrael

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles20 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Honeymoon Israel Foundation