Yavneh

What Yavneh does

Yavneh on Campus, founded in 2017 and operating as a program of OU JLIC (Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus), is a North American nonprofit fellowship organization that builds Orthodox Jewish student and young-professional communities across 60+ university campuses in the United States and Canada. Headquartered at 40 Rector Street in New York City under the leadership of Director Rabbi Jonathan Shulman and Associate Director Gracie Newmark, Yavneh recruits student leaders through campus outreach and an application process hosted on the OU JLIC portal, then equips selected fellows with resources, mentorship, training, and grant funding to organize programming in their local communities.

The organization's product surface spans nine distinct programs: the flagship Yavneh Fellowship (campus-based student leaders), Yavneh Young Professionals (YP) for post-college and graduate audiences, the Mizrachi Track for Sephardic engagement, the LEAD Fellowship for leadership development, the CareerForward Jewish Impact Fellowship for career pathways in the Jewish communal sector, Yavneh B'Aretz for Israel-based programming, the Shtark Tank idea-pitch initiative, National Initiatives, and a regional Yavneh NYC cohort now in its third year serving students from over a dozen schools. Programming centers on Shabbatonim (regional and national), Torah learning chaburas, holiday programming, and community-building events such as the first Michigan Yavneh Football Tournament (12 teams, 100+ students).

Yavneh operates a community-led go-to-market motion with no paid participants; fellows and participants are reached through Hillel referrals, JLIC couples on campuses, and word-of-mouth across an alumni network spanning cohorts from 2017-2018 through 2025-26. Revenue is generated exclusively through donations and grants, processed via OU.org's giving page and supplemented by strategic partnerships with JNF-USA (sponsoring Alternative Break trips to Israel) and Mizrachi (Torah content distribution). No proprietary technology platform, no AI capabilities, no commercial pricing model, and no venture or equity funding have been disclosed.

Name

Yavneh

Legal name

Yavneh on Campus

Website

https://yavnehoncampus.org

Company type

Private

Founded year

2017

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Yavneh on Campus is a nonprofit fellowship organization, founded in 2017 and operated under OU JLIC, that builds Orthodox Jewish student and young-professional communities across 60+ North American university campuses through leadership training, grants, and programming.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Religious Education and Community Services

NAICS

Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations (813), Educational Support Services (611710)

akta.pro industry

PRIMARYBPAGADAD

Youth Mentoring & Positive Youth Development Nonprofits

Business & Public Services/Nonprofit, NGO & Social Services/Education & Youth Development Nonprofits

Keywords

• Jewish student fellowship
• Campus leadership development
• Religious community building
• Young professionals networking
• Torah learning programs

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, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Donations and Grants: Yavneh operates as a nonprofit organization funded primarily through donations and grants. The organization has a dedicated donation page through OU.org and partners with JNF-USA for alternative break trips and programming. Revenue supports fellowship stipends, campus programming, and national events.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Yavneh is a nonprofit fellowship organization that recruits and supports student and young professional leaders to build Jewish life and community on college campuses and in cities across North America. It provides fellows with resources, training, mentorship, grant funding, and a national peer network, and runs specialized tracks (Mizrachi, LEAD, CareerForward, Yavneh B'Aretz) along with regional programs such as Yavneh NYC and Yavneh YP for graduate students and young professionals.

Product overview

Yavneh is a Jewish student and young professional leadership organization operating across North America. The organization offers a portfolio of fellowship programs including the core Yavneh Fellowship for campus student leaders, the Young Professionals (YP) program for graduate students and young professionals, and specialized tracks such as Mizrachi Track, LEAD Fellowship, CareerForward Jewish Impact Fellowship, and Yavneh B'Aretz. These programs provide resources, training, mentorship, and funding to empower leaders to create Jewish life and community on their campuses and in cities. Additional offerings include the Shtark Tank initiative for idea pitching, National Initiatives for broader programming, and regional programs like Yavneh NYC.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• Yavneh Fellowship: Campus Fellows receive resources, training and mentorship to empower them to create their vision for Jewish life on campus.
• Yavneh Young Professionals (YP)
• Yavneh LEAD Fellowship
• CareerForward Jewish Impact Fellowship
• Yavneh B'Aretz
• Yavneh NYC
• Shtark Tank

Products and services

• Yavneh Fellowship
• Yavneh Young Professionals (YP)
• Mizrachi Track
• LEAD Fellowship
• CareerForward Jewish Impact Fellowship
• Yavneh B'Aretz
• Shtark Tank
• Yavneh NYC

Quantifiable outcome

• Over 200 students gathered at annual National Shabbaton with leadership development programming
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

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

• OU JLIC (Jewish Learning Initiative on Campus)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerYavneh operates as a program of OU JLIC, which provides institutional infrastructure, JLIC couples on campuses for spiritual guidance, and access to Orthodox Union resources. This is Yavneh's primary organizational partnership providing legitimacy and operational support.
• JNF-USAmajorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership for Alternative Winter Break trips to Israel and other programming. JNF-USA sponsors Yavneh student trips to Israel, providing funding and itinerary support for service-learning experiences.
• MizrachiminorGTM or Marketing PartnerMizrachi Campus partnership for Torah resources and educational content distribution to campus communities.
• HillelminorGTM or Marketing PartnerCampus Hillel organizations partner with Yavneh fellows for co-hosting events, using Hillel spaces, and collaborating on Jewish programming for students.

Scale indicators3 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Chabad on Campus: Chabad's campus division operates a parallel model of rabbinic couples and student leaders building Jewish life at secular universities across North America. It directly competes with Yavneh for the same Orthodox Jewish student demographic and campus real estate, making it the closest functional peer in mission and delivery model.
• MEOR (meaning, exchange, outreach, renewal): MEOR runs Jewish student leadership and education programs at selective universities and is closely parallel to Yavneh's fellowship model - recruiting student leaders, providing stipends, and building grassroots communities. Both organizations target similar elite campuses and demographic segments, making them direct peers for donor and student attention.

Emerging players

• Birthright Israel Foundation: Birthright funds Israel trips for young Jewish adults and shares Yavneh's Israel-engagement mission (including through Yavneh B'Aretz). It operates at significantly larger scale but is a comparable peer in donor-base overlap, Israel-program offerings, and demographic focus.
• Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) Fraternity: AEPi is the only major Jewish fraternity and operates as a parallel campus leadership community for Jewish students at hundreds of universities. While a social fraternity rather than a religious organization, it competes for the same Jewish-student attention and serves a similar demographic at selective universities.
• NCSY (National Council of Synagogue Youth): Operated by the Orthodox Union, NCSY runs leadership and educational programs for Orthodox Jewish teens and high school students, functioning as the upstream feeder into college-age programs like Yavneh. While focused on a younger demographic, NCSY shares Yavneh's Orthodox communal infrastructure and donor base, making it an adjacent peer in the Jewish youth leadership pipeline.
• KOACH (Reform Jewish Campus Program): KOACH is the Reform movement's equivalent campus program, running student leadership fellowships at universities. Although denominationally distinct from Yavneh's Orthodox focus, KOACH shares the same GTM motion - recruiting student leaders, providing stipends, and building Jewish communities on secular campuses - making it a direct structural parallel.
• Bnei Akiva of the US and Canada: Bnei Akiva operates Zionist youth leadership programs, including campus-adjacent programming, with a similar religious-Zionist ideological orientation to Yavneh's Mizrachi Track. Both organizations build Jewish student leadership communities and run trips to Israel, making Bnei Akiva a parallel peer in mission and demographic.

Broad incumbents

• Hillel: The Foundation for Jewish Campus Life: Hillel is the largest and most established Jewish campus organization with affiliated centers at hundreds of North American universities. Yavneh's campus fellowships operate within Hillel spaces and collaborate on programming; Hillel serves a broader denominational tent but competes for student engagement, donor dollars, and institutional access on campus.

Others

• Jewish National Fund (JNF-USA): JNF-USA is both a Yavneh partner (sponsoring Alternative Break trips to Israel) and an adjacent large Jewish nonprofit. Comparable in revenue scale and donor-base overlap, JNF represents the kind of major institutional partner Yavneh is plugged into - and a benchmark for organizational scale within Jewish communal fundraising.
• Orthodox Union (OU): Yavneh's parent-affiliate, OU is the umbrella Orthodox Jewish organization hosting Yavneh via its JLIC division and processing Yavneh donations through ou.org. As Yavneh's institutional home and fundraising channel, OU is structurally comparable as a peer nonprofit supporting Jewish life, though not a direct competitor.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/yavneh

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 Yavneh