OU IMPACT ACCELERATOR

Supporting Nonprofit
Founders for Growth

Through education and mentorship, the OU Impact Accelerator identifies and advances Jewish nonprofits that are addressing our communal challenges. By fostering partnerships between nonprofit entrepreneurs and experienced professional mentors, the program encourages social entrepreneurship, collaboration, and innovation. The first cohort launched in October 2018 and culminated with the OU Impact Accelerator Demo Day in September 2019. For 2020, 84 applications from three countries and 14 states were submitted.

Visit OU Impact Accelerator
Photo on left: Reva Judas, Founder of NechamaComfort, a graduate of the first cohort.
Photo on right: Jenna Beltser, OU Impact Accelerator founding director, at pitch night, when entrepreneurs present their ideas
Work At It (Yedei Moshe)
“It’s been a whirlwind of topics and speakers with wide-ranging expertise. The sessions were hands-on, giving us the practical skills we need.” —Rivka Ariel
Torah Anytime
“We all want to help the Jewish people and be powerful forces of change. Everything we learned here makes that possible: marketing, fundraising, business operations, and the connections.” —Yosef Davis
Grow Torah
“We’ve been given so much support, knowledge, tools, and skills, and have been connected with incredible mentors who have guided us through the process of growing a nonprofit.” —Yosef Giller
NechamaComfort
“Because of what we learned we’ve been able to reach more of the people who need our support. And after 30 years of operating, I’ve been able to quit my day job and focus exclusively on helping others.” —Reva Judas

Extending the Reach of a Comforting Arm

Thirty-two years ago, I gave birth to my first son, Pesach, after six miscarriages. He lived for 12 hours. I felt so alone. Pregnancy and infant loss were taboo subjects, and most people didn’t understand the emotional trauma of my loss. When a loved one dies, we have shiva, a process to help us grieve and mourn, but I didn’t even have that. I founded NechamaComfort to support others who had endured the painful loss of a pregnancy or a baby, because no one should suffer alone.

The Impact Accelerator helped me understand that a nonprofit is not just a chessed, it’s a business. To help others, we have to be able to sustain ourselves.

Before, I thought people knew of us just because we’d been around for three decades, but that wasn’t true. One of the most wonderful things about the Impact Accelerator is that it got the media talking about us. Now, we’re getting calls from all over, connecting with people who need our support, and acquiring more opportunities to train and educate our community. Two days after our new website launched, a couple reached out to us from Moscow!

Thanks to the Impact Accelerator, we’ve been able to reach more of the people who need our support. And after 30 years of operating, I’ve been able to quit my day job and focus exclusively on helping others.

— Reva Judas, founder and director of NechamaComfort
OU Impact Accelerator Financials

OU senior leadership, OU Impact Accelerator team, and cohort I participants at the Cohort Demo Day, the annual Impact Accelerator graduation eve
OU Torah Initiatives