It was a master’s-level course in undergraduate that set the course for Rachel Weiss-Berger’s profession.

“I just became fascinated about how nonprofit organizations worked and ran and their functions,” Weiss-Berger said. “It was from there that I developed this passion in how to build and grow organizations holistically.”

The Shepherd Park resident brings 20 years of fundraising experience to a role she began in September: senior vice president of philanthropic engagement at BBYO International.

Founded in 1924, BBYO is the leading pluralistic Jewish teen movement, connecting thousands of teens across the world through Jewish identity enrichment and leadership development.

Weiss-Berger’s job is to help oversee and grow BBYO’s philanthropic activity, joining the youth organization she frequented as a teen herself.

“It’s exciting,” she said. “I have a lot of learning to do. I think the teenage group from 14 to 18 is extremely important in the Jewish continuum, and knowing that tens of thousands of Jewish teens are engaged in BBYO is extraordinary.”

Off the clock, Weiss-Berger is president of Ohev Sholom Congregation in Northwest D.C.

She describes Jewish communal service as a product of her upbringing. While her parents weren’t Jewish communal professionals, they “always just gave back” to the Jewish community in Detroit.

“It was just in my blood,” Weiss-Berger said. “It’s who my parents are. They’re always volunteering on boards, giving back philanthropically in so many different ways in the Jewish community.”

Weiss-Berger’s opportunity came at Hillel International as its senior vice president for advancement, a role she held in Washington, D.C., for nearly eight years.

“For me, the most exciting thing was how I could take my almost two decades’ worth of experience in higher education and apply it into the Jewish space,” she said. “What excited me was helping to create sustainable organizations. The Jewish community was so important to me.”

Hillel, in particular, is close to Weiss-Berger’s heart. She met her husband while both worked for the organization.

“I was very involved with University of Michigan Hillel, and it was an important organization to us,” Weiss-Berger said. “To be able to contribute in that way, I really fell in love with working in the Jewish community.”

After marriage, she moved to New York City, then spent a decade in Columbus, Ohio, where Weiss-Berger worked in fundraising at The Ohio State University. They “fell in love” with the Ohev Sholom community during a visit to see friends in D.C.

“While we had incredible jobs that brought us here, I think we found a magic to Ohev Sholom,” Weiss-Berger said. “In addition to having exciting next-step career opportunities, equivalent to that was the ability to move into Washington, D.C., into a community we saw [ourselves] raising our family in.”

Weiss-Berger recalled preparing meals for those in need through Ohev Sholom or answering a fundraising question here and there.

“I believe community doesn’t just happen,” Weiss-Berger said. “Actually, it takes time and effort to build.”

This is a concept the mother of four tries to instill in her daughters. So when she got the phone call asking her to join the board as vice president, her immediate answer was yes.

“I felt like this community has given us so much, the least I can do was commit my time and energy back into Ohev and hopefully continue to build and prepare it for the next generation,” said Weiss-Berger, who eventually took the helm as the synagogue’s first female president in May 2025.

She brings that same dedication to her professional work.

“I love to teach people how to fundraise,” Weiss-Berger said. “It’s [about] building sustainable organizations, and more importantly, sustainable Jewish communities. We need to be here for the ‘now,’ but also the future of the Jewish community. So the more I can help organizations think about sustainable growth, endowments, planned gifts, different ways to grow … that is what I’m able to give to the future.”

This type of work is a “combination of passion, purpose and community” for Weiss-Berger: “Being able to do all of that in a space that I love so much has been extraordinarily fulfilling,” she said.

Her next steps? Expanding Ohev Sholom’s community and programming alongside Rabbi David Wolkenfeld and the board, and taking BBYO International into its next 100 years — the organization celebrated its centennial in 2024.

“Eight years ago, I don’t think I would have considered myself a Jewish communal professional, but today, I certainly am, and [I’m] very, very proud to serve in that role, in that capacity,” Weiss-Berger said.

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com