What Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation does

The USC Shoah Foundation — The Institute for Visual History and Education, originally founded in 1994 by Steven Spielberg as Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation and now housed at the University of Southern California — records, preserves, and distributes video testimonies of Holocaust survivors and witnesses to other genocides. Its core asset is the Visual History Archive, which contains 60,394 searchable video testimonies collected across 69 countries in 45 languages, indexed by a patented search engine holding 12 patents on digital collection management. Products layered on top of the archive include the IWitness educational platform (engaging 407,000 educators and 27 million students globally), Dimensions in Testimony (an interactive biography technology using natural language processing to enable real-time conversational interactions with pre-recorded survivor video, deployed at 14 museums worldwide), the IWalk mobile application for site-based testimony experiences, the Countering Antisemitism Laboratory (a 2024-launched research initiative producing data-driven interventions), and Echoes & Reflections (a flagship Holocaust education program co-developed with ADL and Yad Vashem since 2005).

The foundation operates as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit institute within USC and does not publish revenue. Its revenue model rests on three pillars: individual donations and charitable contributions (one-time, recurring, and planned giving through the Forever Fund endowment), corporate and foundation grants (Lifetime Supporters giving $1M+, including a $30 million gift from Mickey Shapiro in 2025), and a thin commercial layer comprising institutional subscriptions for Visual History Archive access at 204 sites worldwide. Distribution occurs through institutional archive access, museum exhibit deployments, the self-serve IWitness platform, the YouTube direct-to-consumer channel (138M minutes watched in 2024), and educator professional development partnerships. A Board of Councilors chaired by Melinda Goldrich, with Steven Spielberg as Honorary Chair, governs the organization; Robert J. Williams serves as CEO and Finci-Viterbi Chair, and Sam Gustman has been CTO since 1994.

Name

Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation

Legal name

USC Shoah Foundation - The Institute for Visual History and Education

Website

https://sfi.usc.edu

Company type

Private

Founded year

1994

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

5,001–10,000 employees

Short description

USC Shoah Foundation, a nonprofit institute at the University of Southern California, preserves and distributes the world's largest video testimony archive (60,394 Holocaust and genocide survivor accounts) and operates educational platforms — IWitness, Dimensions in Testimony, and the Countering Antisemitism Lab — serving educators, museums, scholars, policymakers, and donors globally.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Holocaust and Genocide Education Services

NAICS

Libraries and Archives (51921), Web Search Portals, Libraries, Archives, and Other Information Services (519)

SIC

Miscellaneous Publishing (2741), Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Archives, Special Collections & Preservation Operations (Rare Materials, Conservation) (EDAEAGAJ)

Keywords

• Video testimony archive
• Holocaust education
• Genocide prevention research
• Interactive survivor testimony
• Visual history preservation

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

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

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: The organization operates as a nonprofit and relies primarily on donations from individuals, foundations, and corporations. Gift options include one-time gifts, recurring gifts, and planned giving through USC's planned giving portal.
2. Corporate and Foundation Grants: Major funding from corporate partners and foundations including Lifetime Supporters with gifts of $1 million or more, and specific funding opportunities for Countering Antisemitism Lab, D.C. Campus, and Last Chance Testimony Collection.
3. Endowment and Planned Giving: The Forever Fund supports endowment for permanent protection and accessibility of archived testimonies. Planned giving options help donors leave legacy gifts while minimizing taxes.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels7 records

Marketing channels8 records

Core offering

USC Shoah Foundation records, preserves, and provides digital access to the world's largest archive of 60,394 video testimonies from Holocaust and genocide survivors across 69 countries in 45 languages. Its core offerings include the Visual History Archive for scholarly and institutional access, the IWitness educational platform for K-12 and college educators, the Dimensions in Testimony interactive AI-powered exhibit technology, the IWalk mobile application for location-based testimony, and the Countering Antisemitism Lab for data-driven antisemitism research.

Product overview

The USC Shoah Foundation operates a platform-plus-services architecture anchored by the Visual History Archive, the world's largest collection of video testimonies from Holocaust and genocide survivors. The core offerings include the Visual History Archive (searchable repository with 60,394+ testimonies), IWitness (educational platform with activities and professional development), Dimensions in Testimony (interactive AI-powered biographical experiences using natural language processing), and the IWalk mobile application. Supporting services encompass the Countering Antisemitism Laboratory (research initiative), Student Leadership Program (educational travel program), Echoes & Reflections (educator training partnership with ADL and Yad Vashem), the Willesden Project (music-based education), Academic Programs and Fellowships (scholarly research support), and Documentary Films (produced content including Academy Award-winning productions). The Contemporary Antisemitism Collection expands the archive to include modern antisemitism testimonies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• IWitness: Educational platform offering testimony-based activities for students and educators
• Visual History Archive
• Dimensions in Testimony
• Countering Antisemitism Lab
• Echoes & Reflections
• IWalk
• Living Links
• Willesden Project

Products and services

• Visual History Archive The world's largest collection of primary source video testimonies from survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust and other genocides, containing 60,394 searchable testimonies across 69 countries in 45 languages, accessible through 204+ institutional access sites for scholarly research and educational use.
• IWitness Educational Platform An award-winning free educational platform offering 500+ testimony-based activities, professional development webinars, and tools for K-12 and college educators to engage students with survivor testimonies and build videos, word clouds, and testimony-based projects.
• Dimensions in Testimony Interactive biography technology enabling visitors to ask questions that prompt real-time responses from pre-recorded video interviews with Holocaust survivors and other genocide witnesses, integrating advanced filming techniques, specialized display technologies, and next-generation natural language processing. Deployed at 14 museums globally.
• IWalk Mobile Application A location-based mobile application available on iOS and Android that connects visitors and students at authentic historical sites and memorials with curated tours linking specific locations to survivor testimonies.
• Countering Antisemitism Laboratory (CAL) A data-driven research initiative developing innovative interventions to prevent antisemitic hatred and violence, combining digital technology with survivor testimony insights and expert staff, including the Countering Antisemitism Summit and the Klass Lecture Series.
• Echoes & Reflections A partnership program with ADL and Yad Vashem offering Holocaust education professional development programs and resources for educators at no cost, impacting millions of students across the United States.
• Student Leadership Program Annual program inviting USC student-athletes on transformational trips to Washington D.C. and Poland to engage with testimony, visit memory sites, and learn from scholars and survivors, supported by the Epstein Family Foundation and Jasmine Charity Trust.
• The Willesden Project A groundbreaking initiative combining testimony, technology, and music to reshape Holocaust education, available within the IWitness platform.
• Academic Programs and Fellowships Scholarly programs including colloquia, research fellowships, lecture series, and collaborations with university faculty supporting research on Holocaust and genocide studies, with 7,000 scholarly citations using archive materials.
• Documentary Films Documentary productions including the Academy Award-winning 'The Last Days,' 'The Survivor,' 'Liberation Heroes,' 'Two Sides of Survival,' and other films documenting Holocaust and genocide testimonies.

Quantifiable outcome

• 27 million students impacted by educational programs globally
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers15 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability5 records

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Ten partnerships are on record, tiered core and secondary.

• AJC (American Jewish Committee)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 April 2025Partnership announced at AJC Global Forum to document and map modern-day antisemitism around the world, giving voice to those who have experienced antisemitic violence.
• Echoes & Reflections (ADL, USC Shoah Foundation, Yad Vashem)coreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 1 January 2005Flagship Holocaust education partnership since 2005, providing professional development programs and resources for educators in the United States at no cost. Has impacted millions of students.
• Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education CentercoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerDimensions in Testimony developed in association with Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center, with technology by USC Institute for Creative Technologies.
• Discovery EducationsecondaryGTM or Marketing PartnerPartnership providing video challenges inspiring students and educators to fight discrimination and hate using the power of testimony.
• The Genocide Education ProjectsecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership expanding reach of educational materials on Armenian Genocide into high schools across the United States.
• ADL (Anti-Defamation League)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-partner in Echoes & Reflections Holocaust education program; ongoing collaboration on antisemitism research and education.
• Yad VashemcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerCo-partner in Echoes & Reflections Holocaust education program; world center for Holocaust documentation, research, and education.
• USC Institute for Creative TechnologiescoreTechnology or IntegrationTechnology partner for Dimensions in Testimony, providing advanced filming and display technologies.
• Holocaust Educational Trust (UK)secondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerDelivering Supporting Holocaust Survivor Testimony in Teaching program on behalf of UK Department for Education, integrating USC Shoah Foundation's Visual History Archive in UK classrooms.
• Living LinkssecondaryStrategic or Co-development PartnerFirst national organization engaging third-generation (3G) descendants of Holocaust survivors, partnering to tell family stories for future generations.

Scale indicators12 records

Recent moves8 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Broad incumbents

• Library of Congress Veterans History Project: Federal program collecting and preserving firsthand accounts of U.S. wartime veterans. Most structurally analogous U.S. testimony-archive program in terms of mission, volunteer-driven collection, scholarly access, and free public availability.
• Internet Archive: Large-scale nonprofit digital library preserving web pages, books, audio, video, and software. Operates a comparable archive-and-public-access model with patented search, broad content library, and free public access — overlapping as a preservation platform but at vastly greater scale and scope.

Direct peers

• Anti-Defamation League (ADL): Long-standing civil rights organization combating antisemitism and hate. Co-partner with USC Shoah Foundation on Echoes & Reflections; overlapping audiences in educator training, antisemitism research, and policy engagement through the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research.
• United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: U.S. federal institution preserving Holocaust history through archives, exhibits, and educational programs. Operates a similar testimony-based mission, scholarly research services, and educator training, with overlapping donor and policymaker audiences.
• Fortunoff Video Archive for Holocaust Testimonies (Yale): Housed at Yale University, the Fortunoff Archive holds over 4,400 video Holocaust testimonies with a parallel scholarly and educational mission. The closest direct competitor in video testimony archival preservation, also distributed to access sites for research.
• Yad Vashem - The World Holocaust Remembrance Center: Israel's official Holocaust remembrance center and a co-partner with USC Shoah Foundation on Echoes & Reflections. Both maintain vast Holocaust archives, conduct research, and run educational programming targeting the same global audience of scholars, educators, and the public.
• AJC (American Jewish Committee): Global Jewish advocacy organization and recent (2025) strategic partner with USC Shoah Foundation on antisemitism documentation. Operates overlapping global advocacy, education, and diplomatic engagement programming.
• Simon Wiesenthal Center / Museum of Tolerance: Jewish human rights organization operating the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, with parallel Holocaust education, antisemitism advocacy, and tolerance programming targeting schools and policymakers in overlapping geographies.
• Arolsen Archives (formerly International Tracing Service): International center on Nazi persecution holding tens of millions of documents on Holocaust victims and survivors. Operates a comparable archive-and-education model with global institutional access, scholarly citation footprint, and digitization programs.
• YIVO Institute for Jewish Research: Research institute focused on Eastern European Jewish history with significant archival holdings and scholarly publications. Comparable in operating an archive-as-mission model serving historians, educators, and the broader Jewish cultural community.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/uscshoahfdn
• YouTubeyoutube.com/uscshoahfoundation
• Facebookfacebook.com/usc-shoah-foundation-institute-65649190849
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/usc-shoah-foundation-institute
• Instagraminstagram.com/uscshoahfoundation

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation