Young people have the power and passion to create ripples of good and repair the world.
Every year, the Helen Diller Family Foundation awards up to 15 Jewish teens with $36,000 each for their leadership efforts to change the world. From the environment to social justice to access to education and beyond, these young people are tackling big challenges in their communities and having tremendous impact.
The Helen Diller Family Foundation supports programs and institutions in both the Bay Area and throughout the world, with a focus on education, science, and the arts. The Foundation invests in Jewish teens, creating powerful experiences that strengthen both their Jewish identity and their leadership abilities.
About the Foundation >The Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Awards is a program of the Helen Diller Family Foundation. Jewish values inform the work of the Foundation. In the words of Helen Diller, “It’s never too late, too early, or too often to give back and make the world a better place.”
The Foundation is committed to engendering respect for all humanity and building bridges of understanding between different cultures. We welcome diversity within the Jewish community and embrace its racial, ethnic, and religious differences.
The Foundation denounces any organization or ideology associated with hatred, including but not limited to racism, misogyny, anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination, antisemitism, and any other form of bigotry or harassment. The Foundation and its grantees support the State of Israel and its right to self-defense and security, while striving for peace and co-existence, and condemn attempts to delegitimize Israel’s right to exist.
Applications are open Applications will open August 2026 Nominations will open August 2026
Applications and Nominations Open
August 2026
Nominations Deadline
December 2026
Applications Deadline
January 2027
Semifinalists Notified
April 2027
Finalists Notified
May 2027
Sign up for updates about deadlines, Awardees, inspiring projects, and more.
Applicants and nominees must be:
To qualify, applications should:
Applicants must be:
Note: Teens who have created and co-led projects with others are welcome to apply individually for the Tikkun Olam Award. In such cases, each applicant will be considered and evaluated separately, and no more than one applicant per project will be chosen as an award recipient.
Note: Teens are not eligible for the Award if they have a sibling who has received a Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award in the preceding five years.
The $36,000 Award may be used to further the recipient’s philanthropic work or for their education.
Projects can have a local, national, or global focus benefiting the Jewish or general community. Applicants can create a new project or contribute to an established initiative if they demonstrate a current, significant leadership role in an existing organization or project. We recommend you view past Award recipients to get an understanding of the types of projects that have been recognized.
Bold. Inventive. Optimistic. Extraordinary. These Jewish teen leaders are making their mark in significant ways.
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Zachary Azrael was a recipient of the Diller Teen Tikkun Olam Award in 2015 for founding the Tutoring Outreach Program (T.O.P.), an initiative which organized local high school and collegiate volunteers to run academic clubs and extracurricular activities within a Title 1 elementary and middle school in Baltimore City, in partnership with another nonprofit, the US Dream Academy. What began with a small group of volunteers grew into a nationwide initiative, providing academic supplementation and enrichment, mentorship, and extracurricular opportunities to children in Baltimore and beyond at the US Dream Academy’s many other sites across the country.
Since receiving the Award, Zachary has remained committed to service while building a career in impact-driven work, ranging from conservation to clean energy to public health. Some of Zachary’s major career milestones include:
Joining the Rocky Mountain Institute as one of the first members of their newly formed strategy team, creating a rigorous structure and discipline around planning alongside institutional and programmatic leadership
Pursuing his Masters in Sustainability at Harvard University
Continuing a commitment to volunteerism ranging from pro bono consulting for NGOs to local environmental stewardship throughout NYC to hospice volunteering and work as a crisis counselor for 988
Shaping The Pew Charitable Trusts’ 2030 environmental strategy, centered around conservation, fisheries management, coastal resilience, grid infrastructure, and more