Option B
Option B is a nonprofit foundation initiative founded by Sheryl Sandberg in 2017 that provides free articles, stories, lessons, and a moderated Facebook peer-support community to help individuals cope with grief and adversity.
- Company typePrivate
- Founded2017
- HeadquartersPalo Alto, United States
- Headcount11–50
- GTM typeB2C
- OfferingDigital Commerce or Content
What Option B does
Option B is a nonprofit online community and content platform that provides free resources, peer support, and practical advice for individuals coping with grief, hardship, and adversity. Founded in 2017 by Sheryl Sandberg following the death of her husband, it operates as an initiative of the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation and is headquartered in Palo Alto, CA with an 11–50 employee team. The platform aggregates 174+ personal stories, 14 lessons, 107+ articles, and videos distributed via a CMS-driven website and email, and hosts the closed Coping with Grief Facebook group of 25,000–28,000 members.
The platform's core technical stack is a content-publishing website paired with Facebook-hosted closed groups for moderated peer discussion, supplemented by email distribution. Notable components include the workplace bereavement toolkits, the #OptionBThere holiday campaign assets co-produced with PAPYRUS and Emily McDowell & Friends, and research collaborations with LeanIn.org and McKinsey that extend distribution into corporate and academic channels. There is no disclosed native mobile app; engagement is web- and Facebook-mediated.
Option B does not sell a product or service; its business model is foundation-funded philanthropy. Resources are provided at no cost to individuals, and the organization pursues adjacent distribution through partnerships rather than monetization. Revenue, in the commercial sense, is effectively zero — operating costs are underwritten by the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation, and growth is measured in community size, content volume, and partnership reach rather than top-line financial metrics.
Option B firmographics
Firmographics- Name
- Option B
- Legal name
- Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Foundation d/b/a OptionB.Org
- Website
- https://optionb.org
- Company type
- Private
- Founded year
- 2017
- Operating status
- Operating
- Headcount range
- 11–50 employees
- Short description
- Option B is a nonprofit foundation initiative founded by Sheryl Sandberg in 2017 that provides free articles, stories, lessons, and a moderated Facebook peer-support community to help individuals cope with grief and adversity.
- Ownership category
- akta.pro rank
Option B industry classification
Industry- Product category
- Mental Health and Grief Support Services
- NAICS
- Other Individual and Family Services (624190), Individual and Family Services (6241)
- SIC
- Services-Social Services (8300)
- akta.pro primary industry
- Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Hospice-Affiliated/Independent) (HLADAHAL)
- akta.pro secondary industry
- Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Family Aftercare) (HSABAFAI)
Keywords
Where Option B is headquartered
LocationHeadquarters
- HQ city
- Palo Alto
- HQ country
- United States
- HQ region
- North America
Offices1 record
Markets served
Option B business model
Business model- GTM type
- B2C
- Offering type
- Digital Commerce or Content
- Cost components
- Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D
Revenue model
- Foundation Funding: OptionB.Org is an initiative of the Sandberg Goldberg Bernthal Family Foundation, funded through charitable donations and foundation grants rather than commercial revenue generation.
Go-to-market motion1 record
Distribution channels4 records
Marketing channels7 records
Option B product offering
Product offeringCore offering
Option B is a free digital platform and nonprofit initiative that delivers resilience and grief support content, including personal stories, expert videos, actionable lessons, and community-based peer support for individuals facing loss or hardship and for those supporting them. It bundles self-care guidance, advice on showing up for others, workplace bereavement toolkits, and a Coping with Grief Facebook community into a single web destination at optionb.org.
Product overview
Option B is a single unified digital platform providing resilience and grief support resources. The core offering consists of content sections for 'Caring for Yourself,' 'Supporting Others,' and 'Navigating Grief,' supplemented by a Resource Library with 14 actionable lessons, a Community Stories collection with 174+ personal narratives, and a Bereavement at Work initiative with toolkits. The platform also maintains a Coping with Grief Facebook Group community of 25K-28K members. The Option B Book by Sheryl Sandberg and Adam Grant extends the brand's guidance on resilience. The #OptionBThere holiday campaign offers specialized seasonal support including greeting cards created with PAPYRUS and Emily McDowell & Friends. The platform does not offer a technical product with integrations or APIs.
Differentiator
Problem solved
Functional benefit
Products and services
- Option B Platform Free digital platform offering practical resilience and grief support content for individuals facing hardship and for people who want to support them. Bundles the Caring for Yourself, Supporting Others, Navigating Grief, Resource Library, Community Stories, and Bereavement at Work hubs under one destination.
- Coping with Grief Facebook Group
Quantifiable outcome
- 64% of Option B community members report supporting someone else through an Option B moment in addition to caring for themselves
Companies that use Option B
Customer profileNamed customers6 records
Segments4 records
Ideal customer profiles3 records
Option B technology and API
TechnologyTechnology focussed No
API detail
- Has API
- No
- API docs
- API detail
Core technology
AI maturity
App detail
Option B partnerships and signals
Strategic signalPartnerships
Five partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.
- PAPYRUSminorPartnership with PAPYRUS (suicide prevention organization) for the #OptionBThere holiday card campaign. Developed greeting cards for people navigating loss during the holiday season.
- Emily McDowell & FriendsminorCollaboration on #OptionBThere empathy cards - greeting cards designed for people facing hardship during holidays. Cards offer meaningful alternatives to traditional holiday greetings.
- LeanIn.orgcorePartnership with LeanIn.org on research examining bereavement policies and workplace leave. Joint research with McKinsey & Company on how comprehensive bereavement policies may be essential to retaining women in the workplace, especially those from marginalized backgrounds.
- McKinsey & CompanycoreResearch partnership with McKinsey & Company to produce data on workplace bereavement leave and its impact on employee retention, particularly for women and marginalized groups.
- FacebookcoreFacebook hosts Option B's Coping with Grief community group (25K+ members) and other topic-specific support groups. Platform partnership for community building and peer support.
Scale indicators5 records
Recent moves5 records
Expansion highlights4 records
Option B competitors and assessment
Company assessmentDirect peers
- What's Your Grief: Long-running grief support community and content platform run by grief counselors Eleanor Haley and Litsa Williams, offering articles, podcasts, courses, and a private community. Closely comparable to Option B in mission, content-led model, and target audience of bereaved individuals and their supporters.
- Compassionate Friends: National nonprofit offering peer support for families who have experienced the death of a child, with local chapters, online community, and resource library. Directly comparable to Option B as a long-standing nonprofit bereavement support organization built around storytelling and community.
- Modern Loss: Online community and content hub for grief, founded by Rebecca Soffer and Gabrielle Birkner, blending personal essays, expert Q&As, and a moderated community. Directly comparable to Option B in combining personal storytelling with grief expert content for a primarily millennial audience.
- Refuge in Grief: Founded by grief counselor Megan Devine, offering books, courses, and a community built around the message that grief is not a problem to solve. Directly comparable to Option B in combining therapeutic credibility, content, and a non-pathologizing community for grievers.
- Hope for Bereaved: Nonprofit offering peer-facilitated support groups, grief education, and community programming for adults and children experiencing loss. Comparable to Option B as a community- and group-based bereavement support nonprofit with similar mission and resources.
- Dougy Center: Pioneering nonprofit providing peer support groups for grieving children, teens, and families, plus training and resources for grief professionals. Directly comparable to Option B as a nonprofit grief support organization, with deeper specialization in pediatric/family grief.
- The Dinner Party: Peer-support community for people in their 20s and 30s who have experienced loss, organized around in-person and virtual dinner gatherings. Closely comparable to Option B in building peer-led grief community, though more focused on a younger demographic and live meetups.
Broad incumbents
- BetterHelp: Largest online therapy platform, connecting users to licensed therapists via subscription. Comparable to Option B in serving people in emotional distress (including grief), but as a venture-backed, paid incumbent offering one-on-one clinical care rather than free content and peer community.
- Headspace Health (Headspace + Ginger): Mental wellness platform offering guided meditation, coaching, and therapy, with a strong B2B channel through employers and health plans. Comparable to Option B as a destination for resilience and mental-health support, with overlapping workplace bereavement and well-being use cases but a much larger paid product suite.
Emerging players
- Crisis Text Line: Nonprofit providing 24/7 text-based crisis support, with a trained volunteer counselor model and technology platform powering partner hotlines. Comparable to Option B as a free, digitally delivered emotional-support nonprofit, with partial overlap in grief and hardship use cases but a distinct acute-crisis orientation.
Market position
Weaknesses2 records
Competitive moat4 records
Key risks6 records
Key highlights7 records
Customer concentration
Option B social profiles
Digital presenceOption B financial estimates
Financial estimateRevenue estimate
Valuation estimate
Option B leadership team
Management profileNumber of profiles
Profiles9 records
Option B funding detail
Funding detailFunding overview
Funding rounds
Investors
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Option B M&A and investment
M&A and investmentM&A
Investments
M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →
Frequently asked questions about Option B
What does Option B do?
Option B is a free digital platform and nonprofit initiative that delivers resilience and grief support content, including personal stories, expert videos, actionable lessons, and community-based peer support for individuals facing loss or hardship and for those supporting them. It bundles self-care guidance, advice on showing up for others, workplace bereavement toolkits, and a Coping with Grief Facebook community into a single web destination at optionb.org.
Is Option B a public or private company?
Option B is a private company. It is classified as nonprofit foundation owned and is currently operating.
When was Option B founded?
Option B was founded in 2017. It employs 11 to 50 people.
Where is Option B based?
Option B is headquartered in Palo Alto, United States, in the North America region.
How does Option B make money?
One revenue line is on record: foundation Funding.
Who are Option B's main competitors?
Direct peers on record are What's Your Grief, Compassionate Friends, Modern Loss, Refuge in Grief, Hope for Bereaved, Dougy Center and The Dinner Party. Broad incumbents are BetterHelp and Headspace Health (Headspace + Ginger). Crisis Text Line is listed as an emerging player.
Does Option B have an API?
No public API is recorded for Option B.
What industry is Option B in?
Option B's product category is Mental Health and Grief Support Services. Its primary akta.pro industry code is HLADAHAL, Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Hospice-Affiliated/Independent), with a secondary code of HSABAFAI, Bereavement & Grief Support Services (Family Aftercare). Its NAICS code is 624190 and its SIC code is 8300.