Abigail Levine and Iris Rave, two passionate young Jewish women, each with a new non-profit they were seeking to advance, contacted Toby Rubin, who was working at the Bureau of Jewish Education (BJE) in San Francisco. Although they didn't know each other, and visited Toby separately, their stories were the same:

"I have an organization that is attracting young Jews; I am really solid on program; I need help learning how to lead a non-profit; I'm sitting alone with my work and I want and need a supportive community."

With their inspiration as her guide, Toby received a planning grant from the Walter & Elise Haas Fund to determine if these women represented a larger population and, if so, what were their common needs?

BJE launched the Jewish Professionals Co-op with a founding grant by the Walter & Elise Haas Fund, and, over a two year period, assisted 15 Jewish non-profits to bring innovative opportunities for engagement to the Bay Area Jewish community.

Thanks to a major grant from the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund and additional support from the Koret Foundation, the Co-op grew out of the BJE and became separately incorporated as UpStart Bay Area on July 21, 2008.