About Aleph Institute
The Aleph Institute is a 501(c)(3) non-profit Jewish organization dedicated to assisting and caring for the wellbeing of isolated populations: U.S. military personnel, prisoners, and people institutionalized or at risk of incarceration due to mental illness or addictions. Aleph addresses religious, educational, and spiritual needs, advocates for civil and religious rights, supports families, and pursues criminal justice reform, recidivism reduction, re-entry assistance, alternative sentencing guidance, and policy research.
Focus Areas
Prison programsFamily servicesMilitary programs/chaplaincyReentry servicesAlternative sentencingEmotional support and mental healthClemency and legal advocacyEducation and prevention
Who They Fund
incarcerated peoplecorrectional staffsurvivors of crime / crime victims
About Aleph Institute
The Aleph Institute Inc stands out for using a large 2023–2024 grant stream to incubate the Center for Justice and Human Dignity, a nonprofit aimed at reducing prison incarceration in the United States. That recurring support shows a funder comfortable with seed funding and organizational incubation, not just routine pass-through grants. Their giving also reaches a synagogue in South Carolina that serves the military-base chaplaincy environment, linking Jewish community support with chaplaincy work. Across the recent record, the foundation’s grants connect criminal justice reform, faith-based support, and services for people affected by incarceration or military life. The profile that emerges is not a broad generalist grantmaker; it is a specialized Jewish nonprofit using grants to advance prison-population reduction, alternative sentencing ideas, re-entry-related support, family assistance, and military-adjacent religious life. The grant list also shows flexibility in scale, from smaller education-related support to very large, program-shaping commitments.
What Aleph Institute Funds
In criminal-justice reform work, The Aleph Institute Inc gave $868,497 in 2023 and $479,172 in 2024 to the Center for Justice and Human Dignity for prison-incarceration reduction. That is the clearest example of their support for decarceration and policy-oriented work. In military chaplaincy and synagogue support, they gave $315,997 in 2024 to The Aleph House in Columbia, South Carolina, to support a synagogue near the military base and the Army chaplaincy in the state. Their education-related giving appears in a $22,000 grant to Jewish Educational Trade School in Granada Hills, California, supporting Judaic studies alongside post-secondary career training. They also backed iterative program development with an $85,000 grant to Start-opp in Phoenix, Arizona, whose purpose text emphasizes tracking constituent reactions and adapting services.
How Aleph Institute Gives
Grant sizes vary widely, with a p25 of $27,000, a median of $85,000, and a p75 of $479,172. The recent record includes repeated support to the same recipient across 2023 and 2024, including a multi-year relationship with the Center for Justice and Human Dignity and another repeated grant to The Aleph House. The foundation is a nonprofit operating through grantmaking rather than program-related investments, and it does accept unsolicited applications for its Family Services program. The distribution suggests a mix of large institutional support and smaller targeted awards.
Financial Snapshot
Annual Giving
$902K
Total Assets
$642K
Total Revenue
$9.8M
Total Expenses
$10.1M
Typical Grant Size
Most grants fall between $27K and $479K, with a median of $85K.
25th Percentile
$27K
Median
$85K
75th Percentile
$479K
Geographic Reach
Regional4 states funded
About 0% of grants go to recipients in SC.
Funding intensity
LowHigh
Headquarters
Leadership
SHOLOM D LIPSKAR
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