American Friends of Bar-Ilan University

American Friends of Bar-Ilan University

American Friends of Bar-Ilan University was established in 2012 by Steven P. Rosenberg, who serves as Chairman alongside a board that includes Odeon Capital Group executive Eric Gomberg and CEO Jessica Feldan. The organization exists as the primary US-based philanthropic conduit for Bar-Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. Its mandate covers donor outreach, grant administration, and stewardship of American-sourced endowment assets earmarked for the university. AFBIU directs capital into Bar-Ilan's academic infrastructure, faculty recruitment, and scholarship programs. The organization does not function as a traditional investment office — capital raised flows toward university priorities rather than into a separately managed portfolio. Grantmaking activity spans science and engineering departments, medical research, and humanities programming. AFBIU also stewards beneficial interests in trusts that support long-term university initiatives. No direct investment positions or co-investment structures are disclosed. The organization operates from a single office at 160 East 56th Street in New York and draws philanthropic support from a network of family foundations, including the Adelson Family Foundation, Haron Dahan Foundation, M D Katz Foundation, and Samueli Foundation. These relationships form the backbone of AFBIU's fundraising model, with major donors supporting capital projects across Bar-Ilan's campus. AFBIU's structural differentiator is its complete alignment with a single Israeli university's development agenda — a model common among US-based friends organizations but unusual in the broader endowment landscape. The organization's governance blends American nonprofit board oversight with strategic coordination through Bar-Ilan University's Global Chairman Michael Jesselson, creating a transatlantic operating structure. No data on professional staff count, total deployment, or asset allocation is publicly available. Altss estimates the endowment's asset base at approximately $20 million.