Learning & Resources Category: Organizational Resource

Access the full report: “Talent Unlocked: Recruitment Solutions for the Jewish Nonprofit Sector,” Leading Edge and PSB Insights, October 2025

Leading Edge and PSB Insights designed this study to learn how the Jewish nonprofit sector could better recruit talent to work in this field. the overarching question guiding this work was, “What’s stopping the sector from recruiting outside talent?”

Key Findings

• Compensation is key. When considering a new job, compensation is the top factor for all groups. Mission counts too but salary is still by far the biggest factor.
• Jews like Jewish nonprofits — but only when they know them well. Jewish talent isn’t always familiar with Jewish organizations, but when they are, they perceive them positively and are willing to consider working there.
• “The Surge” is real — more Jews are interested in working in the sector — but we need to address rising antisemitism to leverage that interest.
• Gen Z is here — and they’re different. Gen Z professionals have more varied expectations than other generations, and Gen Z Jews have different relationships to Jewish and pro-Israel organizations.
• The biggest barriers for top non-Jewish talent are fit and familiarity. Few non-Jewish workers are familiar with our field and even fewer are likely to consider working in it. But these barriers are surmountable; when people get to know the reality of Jewish organizations, they’re much likelier to consider joining.
• Government workers and nonprofit workers are an incredible talent opportunity in this moment. With layoffs affecting the federal workforce and nonprofits, copious skilled and experienced talent is up for grabs.

Access the full report: “Talent Unlocked: Recruitment Solutions for the Jewish Nonprofit Sector,” Leading Edge and PSB Insights, October 2025

Access the abridged report, the full report, and a webinar of key findings for “The Hope Study: What Jewish Professionals Told Us About Hope in a Time of Crisis,” conducted by M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, October 2025

The Hope Study, conducted by M²: The Institute for Experiential Jewish Education, surveyed nearly 950 Jewish communal professionals across North America. Conducted in the summer of 2025, the Hope Study was the largest effort of its kind to understand how Jewish professionals are sustaining—or losing—hope during a time of unprecedented crisis.

The study found that only 24% of Jewish communal professionals often feel hopeful about the future, compared to 82% of the U.S. population, with internal divisions within Jewish communities—not external threats—emerging as the greatest obstacle to sustaining hope. Respondents most often described political disagreements and sensitivities around Israel as the hardest challenges to navigate. Leadership shortcomings were the second most common barrier to hope, while external antisemitism, though deeply affecting personal well-being, was cited less often as undermining professional hope and resilience.

Key insights include:

• Internal communal division is the greatest obstacle to sustaining hope. Professionals report that tensions and political disagreement within the community erode their confidence and leave them uncertain about the future, making it harder to feel resilient in their work. Leadership gaps compound this challenge, while external antisemitism was cited less often as a direct threat to hope.
• External threats weigh heavily on personal well-being, but less on professional resilience. 65% said the situation in Israel affects their personal well-being, and 59% worry extensively about antisemitism. Yet only 26% reported antisemitism significantly affecting their work performance, underscoring that hope in professional life is challenged more by internal dynamics than external threats.
• Belonging and purpose fuel hope. 73% report feeling a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people often or very often, and 55% said they often feel energized by their work. The most important source of hope, cited by 85%, was the impact of their work on others, followed closely by support from colleagues (73%).
• Principled leadership is a key generator of hope. Respondents said they are sustained when leaders provide moral clarity and communicate with conviction, especially in moments of crisis.
• Collective supports are valued over individualized ones. 63% requested clear guidance for sensitive conversations, 48% asked for forums to process current events with colleagues, and 44% requested peer support groups. By contrast, 42% prioritized individualized mental health resources. These preferences show that professionals find hope in shared spaces, practical tools, and communal solidarity.

R&R: The Rest of our Lives is a future-of-work nonprofit dedicated to fostering thriving work environments. In a new Impact Summary, R&R shares key findings and lessons learned from its BREAKWEEK grant pilot, a synchronous one-week break for organizations to disconnect from work to rest and recharge.

Key Data from the Survey:

• 99% of participants had a positive or very positive experience
• 92% reported reduced stress or burnout
• 91% want BREAKWEEK to return next year
• 71% said their productivity improved after returning to work

Qualitative stories behind these numbers:

I finally slept. For real. For the first time in months.
I came back with clarity and more creative ideas than I’ve had in a while.
Knowing everyone was off made it easier to truly disconnect — no guilt, no fear of missing out.

Access the full Impact Summary and a recoded presentation on key findings.

Read An Impact Evaluation: Communicating Across Differences – Resetting the Table’s Contributions to Strengthening Leaders and Communities, by Research Success Technologies

The training with Resetting the Table has been transformational for me. We were taught practical and impactful skills and given the space and tools to practice them. When we were first told to engage with people across difference, I realized that I had already anticipated the other person’s stance. But once we actually started, it turns out their opinion was as nuanced as mine and we grew not only in our understanding of the issue, but in our relationship to one another. – A Federation Executive

Resetting the Table (RTT) works to equip community leaders with tools and skills to enable “collaborative deliberation” in the face of strong differences on contentious issues. The goal is to transform ideological disagreement and conflict into an engine of strengthened relationships and problem-solving, ultimately to build healthier communities and a more cohesive, resilient society. For that purpose, RTT has developed a toolkit of processes, including communication skillbuilding workshops, facilitated community dialogues, narrative training for media makers, multi-perspective educational resources, 10-month intensive trainings, 4-6 session professional development and learning cohorts, and decision-making forums. RTT programs have directly reached more than 80,000 participants across the United States, including people who hold vastly different political views as well as professional roles, ranging from clergy from various faith traditions to TV writers to leaders of national and regional community organizations.

In 2023-24, Research Success Technologies conducted an in-depth evaluation focused on RTT’s work with leaders working within American Jewish organizations at the time of their participation. Researchers assessed the cumulative impact of RTT’s training programs and provided insights for the organization’s future development.

The Need for Communication Across Differences
Communication across differences, while challenging, is a vital component of communities, organizations, and pluralistic societies, and of Jewish life in particular. As shown in this report, communication across differences encompasses a wide range of contentious issues that, when not addressed, become the source of potentially destructive division. Common issues inspiring charged differences include political divides, such as the red/blue polarization affecting American society, and differing views on the role of Israel in Jewish life. They also involve generational gaps, where younger and older members may have contrasting attitudes toward politics, current events, tradition, and religion. Denominational differences, spanning Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and secular Jewish identities, require sensitive dialogue. Additionally, communication across differences is essential in addressing interfaith relations, racial diversity, and responses to antisemitism. Bridging these divides strengthens communal cohesion and resilience.

The contribution of RTT’s training for communication across differences came into sharp focus during the period in which this research was conducted. The project’s launch meeting occurred the week following October 7th. The fallout which continues, and its impact on alumni of RTT’s programs, have afforded deep insight into the critical need for communication across differences in this time of historic crisis. This research shows RTT alumni navigating the emotional and ideological reactions to post-October 7th fault-lines by promoting open, empathetic dialogue, particularly as individuals and organizations grapple with differing perspectives regarding the Israel-Gaza war itself as well as responses to the way the war has impacted college campuses, organizations, and communities.

In this time, many Jewish leaders fear directly addressing ideological divisions – both within Jewish life and between Jews and the society around them. This report tells the story of how skillsets and mindsets for communication across differences can transform ideological diversity from a potentially destructive force into a resource for building healthy, cohesive, and resilient organizations and communities. The report also grapples with the difficulties of reaching the ideal and maximizing the impact of communication across differences.

An Impact Evaluation: Communicating Across Differences – Resetting the Table’s Contributions to Strengthening Leaders and Communities, Ezra Kopelowitz Ph.D., Hadar Franco Galor Ph.D., Jack Gillis M.A. and Kristine Leduc, Research Success Technologies, February 2025

The 2022 Standards Self-Assessment Membership (SSA) Report shares the new findings of how the SRE Network member organizations have grown this past year, their common strengths, and the areas for improvement in the year ahead.

The report reveals that SRE Network member organizations are successfully making gradual and steady progress along their journeys to building safer, more respectful, and equitable workplaces and communal spaces. And there is still more room to improve.

Key Findings

• Overall, organizations improved in the last year. 50% of organizations improved from 2021 and 21% sustained their progress, an accomplishment during a year of great disruption.
• The most common areas of improvement in the past year were Policies & Procedures and Reporting & Response. These are connected with the areas SRE Network invested the most support in this past year.
• Some of the most improved areas are still the most pressing priorities for further development in the year to come. Roughly a quarter of organizations improved in regularly communicating reporting & response procedures to staff, making hiring and advancement policies easily accessible to staff and frequently communicating them, and training the individuals who conduct investigations into discrimination and harassment.
• Education & Training is the area with the most room for growth. Many organizations that provide only one training a year indicate it is insufficient and cite a need for more frequent in-depth trainings.
• Communicating policies and procedures to staff on a regular basis is a key growth area priority. This includes regularly communicating the fair and equitable hiring and advancing policies; reporting and response procedures; and non-discrimination policies.
• While most organizations have successfully established processes for Reporting & Response, many have not yet communicated these procedures to staff on a regular basis nor provided training to the individuals responsible for conducting internal investigations.

About the Standards Self-Assessment
The purpose of this assessment is to help each member organization assess and strengthen its own organizational commitment and expertise in SRE areas over time, based on the SRE Standards. The survey is completed on an annual basis by one senior leader, in consultation with their leadership team. The Standards were designed by experts to prevent and address discrimination and harassment in Jewish workplaces and communal spaces.

2022 Standards Self-Assessment Membership Report, November 16, 2022, SRE Network

The Leading Edge Employee Experience Survey is intended to help individual organizations understand and improve how their employees experience work. The survey helps Jewish nonprofit leaders and managers identify organizational strengths as well as growth areas that can be addressed to improve workplace culture.

Since 2016, more than 45,000 employees working at nearly 400 organizations have received the survey. Organizations that take the survey for multiple years tend to see their numbers improve year over year as their interventions make their employees’ working lives demonstrably better.

Key Findings of the 2022 survey:

• People want to stay in this sector. A strong majority of employees surveyed (70%) want to stay in the Jewish nonprofit sector for two years or more.
• People (still) want well-being, trusted leaders, and inclusion. The top drivers of employee engagement remain what Leading Edge has seen in past years: feeling that the organization cares for employees’ well-being, confidence in leadership, feelings of belonging, and feeling that there is open and honest communication in the organization.
• Some employees are less likely to feel like they belong. LGBTQ+ employees and People of Color (particularly Black employees, both including Black Jews and Black employees who are not Jewish) are markedly less likely to feel like they belong in their organizations.
• There’s been a lot of turnover. One third (33%) of employees surveyed have been with their organizations for less than two years.
• Working with board members is common. More than one out of every four employees surveyed (27%) reports that they work with the board.
• Most employees go to work in person for at least part of their work week. Three quarters of employees surveyed (76%) reported that they work outside their homes for at least part of each week.
• People working in person (i.e., not remotely) trust their leaders more if they feel well prepared for physical security threats. For the first time, we asked employees working outside their homes about preparedness for physical security threats. Five out of six employees surveyed (72%) feel prepared to act in the event of a security threat, but those who don’t feel prepared are markedly less likely to have confidence in their organizational leadership.

Are Jewish Organizations Great Places to Work? Results from the Sixth Annual Employee Experience Survey (2022), November 1, 2022, Leading Edge