Berkeley Hillel

What Berkeley Hillel does

Berkeley Hillel is a nonprofit Jewish student organization operating at 2736 Bancroft Way on the UC Berkeley campus, serving as the central hub for Jewish campus life at the university. Its core offerings include Shabbat and religious services, a kosher dining program, immersive Jewish learning fellowships (including the Marla Bennett Fellowship run in partnership with the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies), Israel engagement and travel programs, graduate student and young professional programming, alumni events, and a wellness program staffed by an in-house Mental Health Clinician. The organization also generates modest commercial activity through branded merchandise sales (priced $10-$43) and facility or event-space rentals at its Bancroft Way building.

The business model is primarily donation-driven. Revenue is sourced from foundation grants (including named contributions from the Koret Foundation, Barbro and Bernard Osher Foundation, and Lisa and Douglas Goldman Fund), individual major donors, the Jewish Community Federation and Education Fund, and the broader Hillel International donor network, supplemented by small earned-income streams from merchandise and venue rentals. Programming is delivered through staff positions, student fellowships, and volunteer leadership, with a Board of Directors (including Rob Ruby, who served as Board President from 2010 to 2016) providing governance oversight.

Berkeley Hillel operates under the Hillel International umbrella as the recognized Jewish student organization at UC Berkeley, with a service population essentially confined to Jewish students, faculty, and affiliated community members at that single institution. The combination of multi-year student lifecycle engagement, named-program brand assets (Marla Bennett Fellowship), and a fixed physical campus location defines its operational footprint; no geographic or institutional expansion beyond UC Berkeley is indicated in the available data.

Name

Berkeley Hillel

Legal name

UC Berkeley Hillel

Website

https://berkeleyhillel.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2015

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Berkeley Hillel is a nonprofit Jewish student center at UC Berkeley that provides religious services, kosher dining, learning fellowships, Israel programs, alumni engagement, and mental health support to Jewish students and the broader campus community.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Berkeley

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Charitable Contributions: Berkeley Hillel relies primarily on donations from supporters, alumni, parents, and the Jewish community. The organization has a Legacy Society for planned giving, an Annual Campaign, and various scholarship funds that accept contributions.
2. Merchandise Sales: Berkeley Hillel operates an online store selling branded merchandise including t-shirts, sweatshirts, kippahs, socks, blankets, mugs, and onesies. Products range from $10 to $43.
3. Facility and Torah Rentals: The organization offers facility rentals for events and Torah rentals, generating revenue from external bookings of their space.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels4 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Berkeley Hillel is the Jewish student center at UC Berkeley providing Shabbat and holiday services, glatt-kosher dining (weekly Wednesday BBQ and Friday Shabbat dinners), Jewish learning and leadership fellowships, Israel engagement programs including Birthright, and free mental health wellness resources. It also operates a branded merchandise store and offers facility and Torah rentals. The organization serves as the on-campus Jewish home for undergraduate and graduate students throughout their college journey.

Product overview

Berkeley Hillel is a Jewish student center at UC Berkeley offering a multi-product portfolio centered on Jewish student life and community. The core offerings include weekly Shabbat services with home-cooked dinners, a Kosher BBQ program, Jewish Learning Fellowships, the Schultz Engagement and Leadership Fellows program, and Israel programs including Birthright. Additional offerings include a Wellness Resources program providing free mental health support with up to ten therapy sessions for UC Berkeley students. The organization also operates a merchandise store selling branded apparel including T-shirts, sweatshirts, kippahs, blankets, and accessories. The Marla Bennett Fellowship provides annual summer study opportunities in Israel at the Pardes Institute.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Shabbat Services

Quantifiable outcome

• Hundreds of students attend Passover Seder

Named customers3 records

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Integration4 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Hillel InternationalcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBerkeley Hillel is a campus Hillel affiliated with Hillel International, the global Jewish student organization. This affiliation provides organizational support, resources, best practices, and connection to the broader Hillel network.
• Pardes Institute of Jewish StudiesminorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartner for the Marla Bennett Fellowship, which sends Berkeley students to study at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem during summer.
• UC BerkeleycoreOthersBerkeley Hillel operates on the UC Berkeley campus and serves as the designated Jewish center for the university community.

Scale indicators1 record

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Columbia/Barnard Hillel: Jewish student center serving Columbia University and Barnard College on a large urban campus. Direct peer with comparable programming and target audience, often cited alongside Berkeley Hillel as a flagship Hillel.
• Stanford Hillel: Jewish student organization at Stanford University and a fellow Bay Area Hillel affiliate. Operates a comparable programming slate — Shabbat services, kosher dining, learning fellowships, Israel programs — and competes for the same regional donor base as Berkeley Hillel.
• Harvard Hillel: Largest and most prominent campus Hillel in the network, serving Harvard undergraduates and graduate students. Comparable in mission and product mix (Shabbat, learning, Israel, kosher dining, wellness) and serves as a useful scale benchmark for what a top-tier campus Hillel can build.
• USC Hillel: Jewish student organization serving USC students. Direct peer with the same programming mix and Hillel affiliation, and another large private/public university Jewish-student center on the West Coast.
• Chabad at UC Berkeley: Orthodox-affiliated Jewish student organization operating on the same UC Berkeley campus. Competes for the same Jewish student audience with overlapping offerings (Shabbat dinners, Jewish learning, holiday programming) but a distinct denominational identity.
• UCLA Hillel: Jewish student center serving UCLA undergraduates and graduates. Direct peer with identical mission, programming mix (Shabbat, kosher dining, Birthright, fellowships), and Hillel International affiliation on another large California public-university campus.

Broad incumbents

• Hillel International: Global umbrella organization for the campus Hillel movement and the parent nonprofit of Berkeley Hillel. Operates broadly across 550+ campuses; Berkeley Hillel is one affiliate within this broader network.

Emerging players

• Jewish Student Union (JSU): Orthodox outreach organization engaging Jewish students on secular campuses through clubs, events, and holiday programming. Partial overlap with Berkeley Hillel's outreach mission but targets a narrower Orthodox segment.

Others

• Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies: Jerusalem-based Jewish studies institute and partner for Berkeley Hillel's Marla Bennett Fellowship. Comparable in adjacent Jewish-educational mission though it operates study-abroad programs rather than campus-based student life.

Regional players

• Jewish Federation of San Francisco: Bay Area Jewish community federation and a major Berkeley Hillel funder. Operates regional Jewish programming, philanthropy, and community services across the San Francisco Bay Area.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/berkeleyhillel
• Facebookfacebook.com/berkhillel
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/berkeley-hillel

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

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M&A

Investments

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Frequently asked questions about Berkeley Hillel