JewishGen

What JewishGen does

JewishGen is a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1987 that operates the largest free online resource dedicated to Jewish genealogy research. The organization serves individual genealogists, Holocaust descendants and survivors, university students, and the broader Jewish community interested in tracing family history. It is headquartered at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York and operates with a small paid staff (1-10 employees) supported by hundreds of volunteers.

Name

JewishGen

Legal name

JewishGen, Inc.

Website

https://jewishgen.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

JewishGen is a 1987-founded non-profit that operates the largest free online platform for Jewish genealogy, serving individual genealogists, Holocaust descendants, and students with searchable databases of Holocaust records, burial registries, family trees, and translated yizkor books, funded by charitable donations.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Jewish Genealogy Research Services

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (5192), Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Libraries and Archives (519210)

SIC

Services-Membership Organizations (8600), Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Books: Publishing Or Publishing & Printing (2731)

akta.pro primary industry

Libraries, Archives & Special Collections (BPAGAHAF)

akta.pro secondary industry

Religious Reference & Study Tools Publishing (Commentaries, Concordances, Lexicons) (MPAJAHAL)

Keywords

• Jewish genealogy research
• Holocaust records database
• Family tree records
• Burial registry records
• Community genealogy platform

Headquarters

HQ city

New York

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: JewishGen operates as a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization. The site is offered as a free public resource, funded entirely by charitable donations from users and supporters. Contributions can be made via the JewishGen-erosity program, accepting checks and all major credit cards.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

JewishGen operates a free, web-based genealogical research platform providing searchable databases of Jewish family history records, including Holocaust records (4+ million), burial registries (4.2+ million across 143 countries), family trees (5+ million individuals), and Yizkor Book translations. The platform also offers community networking tools such as the JewishGen Family Finder, Discussion Groups, Mailing Lists, and ViewMate, enabling researchers to connect, share documents, and preserve Jewish heritage.

Product overview

JewishGen is a comprehensive genealogical research platform offering a unified ecosystem of interconnected tools for Jewish genealogy research. The platform centers on a unified search across multiple databases including the Holocaust Database (4+ million records), the JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry/JOWBR (4.2+ million burial records), the Family Tree of the Jewish People/FTJP (5+ million individuals), and the Town Finder/Gazetteer. Core community tools include the JewishGen Family Finder/JGFF for networking with other researchers, ViewMate for document sharing, the Discussion Group and Mailing Lists for community engagement, and the KehilaLinks and Yizkor Book Project for community/town documentation. Additional offerings include Cemetery Discovery Project, Shul Records America, Sephardic databases, educational resources, and InfoFiles reference materials.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF): A database of surnames and ancestral towns currently being researched by Jewish genealogists worldwide, containing over 125,000 ancestral surnames and 18,000 town names.
• Family Tree of the Jewish People (FTJP)
• JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR)
• JewishGen Yizkor Book Project

Products and services

• JewishGen Unified Search A comprehensive search interface allowing users to search across all of JewishGen's record collections simultaneously, including Holocaust records, burial data, and genealogical databases. Designed for individual genealogists researching Jewish ancestry.
• JewishGen Family Finder (JGFF) A networking database of surnames and ancestral towns being researched by nearly 100,000 Jewish genealogists worldwide, designed to connect researchers with similar interests through surname and ancestral town matching.
• JewishGen Online Worldwide Burial Registry (JOWBR) A searchable database cataloging data about Jewish cemeteries and burial records worldwide, containing approximately 4.2 million burial records from over 9,500 cemeteries in 143 countries, including gravestone photographs.
• Family Tree of the Jewish People (FTJP) A database of family tree data submitted by over 4,500 Jewish genealogists, containing information on over five million individuals including birth/death dates and places, marriage information, with links to parents, spouses, and children.
• Holocaust Database A database containing over 4 million records related to the Holocaust, providing genealogical researchers access to Holocaust-era documentation for tracing victims and survivors.
• KehilaLinks Web pages dedicated to specific towns or localities, documenting the history and Jewish heritage of communities, particularly those destroyed during the Holocaust.
• Town Finder (Communities Database) A database containing information on thousands of Jewish communities in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East, helping users identify ancestral towns and communities.
• Yizkor Book Project

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 100,000 Jewish genealogists connected through the Family Finder
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Seven partnerships are on record, tiered core, major and minor.

• Museum of Jewish HeritagecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJewishGen is housed at the Museum of Jewish Heritage - A Living Memorial to the Holocaust in New York. This co-location provides institutional support and aligns JewishGen's mission of preserving Jewish history with the museum's living memorial to the Holocaust.
• International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerJewishGen works closely with IAJGS which represents over 70 Jewish Genealogical Societies worldwide. The organizations collaborate on annual conferences and educational initiatives for the Jewish genealogical community.
• Jewish Records Indexing - Poland (JRI-Poland)majorTechnology or IntegrationJRI-Poland is a hosted project on JewishGen that indexes and provides access to Jewish genealogical records from Poland, one of the most significant countries for Jewish genealogy research.
• LitvakSIGmajorTechnology or IntegrationLitvakSIG is a hosted project focusing on Lithuanian Jewish genealogy, with records and research tools integrated into the JewishGen platform for members.
• Yad VashemmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerJewishGen's Yizkor Book Project and Holocaust databases are closely aligned with Yad Vashem's archival mission. Yad Vashem's Hall of Names contains Pages of Testimony that complement JewishGen's genealogical research resources.
• American Red Cross Holocaust & War Victims Tracing CenterminorImplementation/ SI/ Consulting PartnerJewishGen provides information about the American Red Cross tracing service for users seeking to locate family members separated by the Holocaust. The service processes requests and forwards to the International Tracing Service.
• YIVO Institute for Jewish ResearchmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerYIVO and JewishGen co-locate at the Center for Jewish History in New York. YIVO focuses on East European Jewry research and both organizations collaborate on preservation and access to Jewish historical records.

Scale indicators8 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Others

• Center for Jewish History:
• Museum of Jewish Heritage: Holocaust museum in New York that physically hosts JewishGen and shares a mission around Jewish heritage preservation. Indirect peer and institutional partner rather than a competing platform.

Direct peers

• YIVO Institute for Jewish Research: Research institute for East European Jewish history with archives and genealogical collections. Co-located with JewishGen at the Center for Jewish History and directly comparable in mission around preserving Jewish historical records.
• FamilySearch: Free non-profit genealogical record repository operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Comparable as a large-scale free genealogy platform with international record collections and a community contributor model.
• Find a Grave: Largest online cemetery and burial records database with contributor-submitted memorial content. Directly comparable to JewishGen's JOWBR in product function (burial record search) and community submission model.
• MyHeritage: Global genealogy platform with strong European and Jewish record collections, family tree tools, and DNA testing. Closely comparable to JewishGen in target audience, geographic focus, and product surface.

Broad incumbents

• Ancestry: Largest commercial genealogy platform with billions of records and integrated DNA testing. Comparable as a destination for family history research, but commercially operated and not Jewish-specialized.

Emerging players

• Yad Vashem: World Holocaust Remembrance Center with the Hall of Names / Pages of Testimony database. Comparable in Holocaust-specific archival mission and serves as both a partner and a parallel destination for victims' descendants researching family.
• BillionGraves: Cemetery records platform based on GPS-tagged gravestone photographs. Comparable in burial record aggregation and crowdsourced contribution model, though not Jewish-specialized.
• 23andMe: Consumer DNA testing service with ancestry composition tools including Ashkenazi Jewish reference populations. Comparable as a Jewish-ancestry discovery channel, though genetic rather than documentary in approach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/groups/JewishGenealogyPortal
• Xx.com/JewishGen

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles5 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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 JewishGen