Why Jewish Staff Are Quietly Leaving Progressive Nonprofits
Talented employees are exiting because groups fail to acknowledge antisemitism as an equity issue and turn a blind eye to hurtful and one-sided rhetoric. Leaders must stop ignoring this problem.
By Sharon Leslie
Contributor
April 16, 2026 | Read Time: 6 minutes
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Progressive nonprofits pride themselves on inclusion and equity. These organizations, however, may quietly be losing Jewish talent because they haven’t integrated antisemitism into their equity work.
The story of Ariel Amaru demonstrates the ramifications of this blind spot. As a Jewish woman of color working at a gender justice nonprofit, Ariel experienced antisemitism as a steady accumulation of microaggressions, ideological litmus tests, and silences that spoke volumes.
In the weeks after the October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel, the nonprofit’s union leaders adopted language that crossed the line from criticism of Israeli policy into antisemitic tropes. Ariel and two other Jewish women quietly left the workplace union, not because they were called out, but because their discomfort and Jewish identities clearly didn’t count.
The pattern continued. A Jewish colleague quit after months of Slack messages and team chatter casually labeling Zionists as “colonial” and “genocidal,” with no awareness of how that rhetoric landed with Jewish staff.
Some coworkers simply assumed Ariel must be an anti-Zionist. One called the organization “a safe place to be an anti-Zionist Jew,” then was stunned when Ariel replied that she is a Zionist Jew with family in Israel. In another meeting, a staffer confidently repeated a debunked claim about Israel, forcing Ariel to correct it and ask why such misinformation had a place at work.
An Impossible Choice
Like Ariel, many Jewish professionals working in secular nonprofits and philanthropy today face an impossible choice: stay true to their identity and risk ostracism or suppress it to avoid animosity in organizations that claim to champion equity for all but demand ideological conformity. In such a culture, there is little room for Jews who don’t fit the expected script.
A recent survey of Jewish staff at secular nonprofits conducted by my organization, Blue Compass, found the problem is widespread. Nearly one-third of respondents said they had considered leaving their jobs because of their experience as Jews in the workplace, and nearly 40 percent said they had witnessed antisemitic statements or behavior at work over the past year. Fully 41 percent reported feeling uncomfortable expressing their Jewish identity at professional events, with one-third saying they felt the same discomfort in their own organizations.
Nonprofits that don’t take steps to address the challenges facing Jewish staff are in danger of losing valuable employees and weakening relationships with the communities they serve. Yet just 12 percent of those surveyed said their organizations provide tools or support to address antisemitism.
Many Jewish employees remain in their jobs, at least for now, because they believe in the missions that drew them to the field, including advocating for marginalized communities, advancing climate justice, and organizing for immigrant rights. But they are doing this work in environments where their own vulnerability is often dismissed as a distraction from other forms of oppression, and where speaking up about antisemitism can be miscast as reactionary or aligned with the “wrong” politics.
Rectifying this problem requires more than one-off statements of solidarity when a crisis dominates the headlines. Jewish staff need community, support systems, and places where they can speak openly about what they’re facing. And nonprofits need structures that help them address antisemitism alongside their broader commitments to equity, safety, and inclusion.
That’s why Blue Compass was launched in January. We are the first affinity network created specifically for Jews and those with a meaningful connection to the Jewish community working across secular nonprofits. We have one simple goal: to ensure that Jewish staff can remain in the work they love without diminishing who they are.
Steps to Address Antisemitism
We call on nonprofits and grant makers to look closely at how antisemitism shows up in their organizations and to take action to address it. This is where the work must start. The following first steps signal that an organization’s commitment to inclusion is real, not just rhetorical.
Integrate antisemitism into existing equity infrastructure and assessments. Antisemitism belongs in DEI frameworks, training curricula, onboarding materials, and organizational policy, alongside racism, homophobia, and other forms of bias. Too many Jewish professionals report being told that antisemitism falls outside the scope of their organization’s equity work. Until organizations name it as a bias with ethnic, cultural, and religious dimensions, every other step is built on an unstable foundation.
Re-examine internal communication norms. A statement in the employee handbook means nothing if leadership stays silent when antisemitic rhetoric surfaces in a staff meeting, a Slack channel, or a public statement. Organizations must be willing to intervene in real time, the same way they would if a racial slur were used or a colleague were subjected to homophobic comments.
When leaders look away and allow ideological litmus tests to become an informal condition of belonging, they contribute to the normalization of rhetoric that can quickly spread outside the workplace. Instead, they should model curiosity over certainty and create space for dialogue. Real culture change requires sustained commitment, not a single intervention, and includes working with experts who know how to bring nuance into rooms that have grown accustomed to certainty.
Create clear reporting and response procedures for antisemitic incidents. Organizations need a named point of contact trained to recognize antisemitism as a distinct form of bias, a documented investigation process, and follow-through that is visible to the person who reported the incident. Treating Jewish complaints as a political inconvenience rather than a legitimate workplace issue is itself a form of discrimination.
Support affinity groups and peer networks. Jewish staff need trusted places to process their experiences, build skills, and connect, while strengthening collective capacity so that responsibility for change doesn’t fall on isolated individuals. Judaism is an ethnicity, a history, and a community, and that identity deserves the same home in the workplace that so many other groups already have.
Growing numbers of Jewish employees have built community informally, in hushed conversations and private group chats. Many have grown into organized affinity groups in areas such as reproductive justice and health care. Blue Compass helps to connect these efforts and ensure no one does this work alone.
The message of Ariel’s story and of the hundreds of voices reflected in our research is clear. Jewish professionals have silently carried the burden of antisemitism in the secular nonprofit and philanthropy workplace for too long. The steps outlined above are where serious organizations begin, not where they finish. These nonprofits must extend their stated values inward and ensure that their Jewish staff are not forced to choose between the work they love and their own identities.
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