Jewish Solar Challenge

What Jewish Solar Challenge does

Jewish Solar Challenge (JSC) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded in 2021 in Los Angeles by Mitchell Schwartz. It accelerates the adoption of solar energy at Jewish community institutions — synagogues, schools, camps, and nonprofits — by removing financial, technical, and organizational barriers to project execution. Its core offering is a dollar-for-dollar matching grant program of up to $50,000 per project (plus up to $5,000 in external grant matching), requiring recipient institutions to own their building or land and contribute at least 50% of total project cost. JSC supplements direct funding with hands-on technical guidance, education, and support in navigating the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC), including the direct-pay option for tax-exempt entities introduced by the Inflation Reduction Act.

JSC operates an annual grant cycle (applications open September 1 and close September 22) with selected finalists receiving office hours before final award notification by year-end. The organization has cumulatively awarded approximately $1.2 million to 23 recipients across seven U.S. states (California, New York, Massachusetts, Colorado, Georgia, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island) and one international recipient, supporting more than $10 million and 3MW of underlying solar projects with an estimated 4.6 million kWh of annual clean generation and 1,700 metric tons of CO2 avoided per year. The 2023 cycle was suspended and funds redirected to Israeli humanitarian needs following the October 7th events, after which the program relaunched at a larger scale.

JSC's go-to-market is community-led and event-driven, relying on Jewish institutional networks, earned media in Jewish publications, a donation portal via every.org, and core financial partnerships with the Jewish Community Foundation Los Angeles and the Jewish Climate Trust. The organization is fiscally sponsored, supported entirely by charitable donations rather than product or service revenue, and operates with a small team (1-10) led by Founder Mitchell Schwartz and Director of Operations Shai Grossman. JSC has no proprietary technology platform; its operational backbone is a Squarespace-hosted website, email-based application workflows, and standard nonprofit donation infrastructure.

Name

Jewish Solar Challenge

Legal name

Jewish Solar Challenge

Website

https://jewishsolarchallenge.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Jewish Solar Challenge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that provides dollar-for-dollar matching grants of up to $50,000 to Jewish community institutions — synagogues, schools, camps, and nonprofits — for solar panel and battery storage installations, supplemented by technical guidance and federal ITC support.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Renewable Energy Grant Funding

NAICS

Grantmaking Foundations (813211), Grantmaking and Giving Services (81321)

SIC

Services-Social Services (8300)

akta.pro primary industry

Environmental & Climate Grantmaking Foundations (BPAGAKAM)

akta.pro secondary industry

Renewable Distributed Generation (Rooftop/Onsite Solar, Small Wind, Small Hydro) (EUACALAJ)

Keywords

• Solar matching grants
• Nonprofit solar funding
• Solar installation grants
• Jewish community grants
• Renewable energy funding

Headquarters

HQ city

Los Angeles

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Operations, Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Philanthropic Funding: Jewish Solar Challenge is a 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsored organization that raises money through donations to provide matching grants to Jewish institutions for solar installations. Revenue is generated entirely from charitable contributions, not from product or service sales. The organization is proudly supported by the Jewish Community Foundation Los Angeles and the Jewish Climate Trust.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion2 records

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Jewish Solar Challenge is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that runs a matching grant program providing up to $50,000 per project to Jewish community institutions (synagogues, schools, camps, and nonprofits) for solar panel installation and battery storage systems. The organization complements its grants with education, training, and hands-on technical guidance, including navigation of the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) direct pay option for tax-exempt entities.

Product overview

Jewish Solar Challenge operates as a matching grant program with two core offerings: (1) the Jewish Solar Challenge Grant Program, which provides matching grants of up to $50,000 for solar panel installations and battery storage at Jewish institutions, requiring 50% co-funding from recipients; and (2) Technical Support and Guidance Services, which offer education, training, and advisory support to help institutions navigate solar project planning, financing, and ITC filing. The organization connects grantees with sustainability professionals and provides a blueprint for federal tax credit applications.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Jewish Solar Challenge Grant Program A matching grant program that provides up to $50,000 in direct funding to Jewish institutions (synagogues, schools, camps, and nonprofits) for solar panel installations and battery storage systems. Applicants must own their building or land, hold 501(c)(3) tax-exempt status, contribute at least 50% of project costs, and submit a board resolution approving the project. The program runs on an annual cycle with applications opening September 1 and closing September 22.
• Technical Support and Guidance Services Education, training, and hands-on technical guidance offered to Jewish institutions to help them plan, finance, and build solar projects. Includes office hours with the JSC team for finalists, assistance with solar proposal review, and a blueprint for navigating the federal Investment Tax Credit (ITC) direct pay option for tax-exempt entities under the Inflation Reduction Act.

Quantifiable outcome

• Preventing 1,700 metric tons of CO2 emissions annually (equivalent to 190,000 gallons of gasoline)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers23 records

Segments1 record

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Others

• The Solutions Project: Nonprofit advancing 100% clean energy for all communities via advocacy and on-the-ground partnerships, including faith and community institutions. Comparable to JSC's broader mission of driving community-level clean-energy adoption.
• Coalition for Green Capital: Nonprofit that designs and implements public clean-energy financing programs (green banks), including community and institutional solar. Comparable to JSC as a mission-aligned enabler of community-scale clean-energy deployment, though focused on capital deployment rather than matching grants.

Direct peers

• Interfaith Power & Light: Faith-based climate nonprofit that provides grants, technical support, and advocacy to congregations across many denominations to adopt solar and energy efficiency. Highly comparable to JSC's faith-aligned, grant-plus-technical-assistance solar model, though at far broader interfaith scale.
• Hazon: Jewish environmental nonprofit that runs sustainability programs and food/energy initiatives within Jewish communities. Comparable to JSC in targeting Jewish institutions for sustainability, though historically weighted toward food systems rather than solar infrastructure.
• Carbon Neutral Jewish Alliance: Coalition coordinating Jewish institutional climate commitments, including energy decarbonization. Comparable in targeting Jewish institutions for sustainability action, with stronger focus on pledges/net-zero pathways than on physical installation grants.
• Dayenu: A Jewish Call to Climate Action: Jewish-climate-focused nonprofit mobilizing Jewish institutions around clean energy and policy advocacy. Comparable to JSC in mission and Jewish-community target audience, though Dayenu emphasizes advocacy and mobilization more than direct installation matching grants.
• Jewish Climate Trust: Publicly listed core funder of JSC, focused on mobilizing Jewish community capital toward climate solutions. Direct peer in the Jewish-climate-philanthropy space, with overlapping audience and mission.

Emerging players

• GRID Alternatives: Large nonprofit solar installer focused on low-income communities with workforce-development programs. Comparable to JSC in nonprofit solar-deployment orientation, but executes installations directly rather than via matching grants.
• Groundswell: Nonprofit aggregator that develops community solar, resilience, and energy-access projects for community institutions, including faith-based partners. Comparable to JSC in mission of bringing solar to community institutions via nonprofit financing structures.
• Solar United Neighbors: Nonprofit that organizes community solar group-buys across many U.S. regions, including offerings for nonprofits and houses of worship. Comparable to JSC in aggregating demand from community institutions to access solar.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat3 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights5 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/jewish-solar-challenge

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 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 Jewish Solar Challenge