Amid record fundraising, ADL lays off staff to consolidate focus on antisemitism
The organization dismissed 22 workers this week as it moves away from broader civil rights and public policy work
A view of the stage during the ADL Never Is Now Summit in March at Javits Center in New York City. The organization laid off around 4% of its workforce this week. Photo by Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Anti-Defamation League
By Arno Rosenfeld June 26, 2025
The Anti-Defamation League laid off 22 employees this week, roughly 4% of its workforce, as part of an effort to focus its work more narrowly on antisemitism as it shifts away from broader civil rights and public policy work.
Multiple departments were impacted but none were completely shuttered, according to ADL spokesperson Todd Gutnick. Employees were laid off at the Center for Technology and Society and in the education department, which works on curriculum development related to antisemitism and other forms of discrimination in public schools, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
“ADL is always evaluating our programs and structure to best serve the needs of the Jewish community and all Americans as we respond to the new realities of our world,” Gutnick said in a statement.
[If you have additional information about the layoffs contact reporter Arno Rosenfeld on Signal from a non-work device at @arnorosenfeld.08]
The laid-off employees will be paid for the next month in addition to two months severance, “extended benefits coverage and career transition assistance” in exchange for signing non-disclosure agreements. The ADL listed 553 employees in 2022, the most recent year that public records were available for.
The organization has set fundraising records in recent years, raising $163 million last year, according to Gutnick, compared to $55 million 10 years ago. It has also narrowed its focus and adopted a “strategic realignment” that Gutnick said calls for an emphasis on combating antisemitism in K-12 schools and at colleges and universities, through more forceful action than its longstanding educational programs entail, and responding directly to antisemitic incidents.
Jewish Currents reported in March that the organization had shut down its flagship anti-bias training program, called A World of Difference, which focused on identifying a broad array of discrimination.
The magazine reported that the ADL has also removed 134 model lessons from its website covering topics like transgender identity, white privilege and anti-Asian racism, some of which a spokesperson said had only been temporarily removed for revisions.
The ADL was founded in 1913 to respond to antisemitism in the United States, but has long embraced a wider mandate and bills itself as “the leading anti-hate organization in the world” with a mission to “secure justice and fair treatment to all.”
Its Center on Extremism, for example, regularly publishes reports on white supremacist and far-right activity that is not solely targeted at Jews, while the Center on Technology and Society often publishes reports describing problems with content moderation on social media that allows many types of hate and abuse.
But in recent years, and especially since the Israel-Hamas war began two years ago, the organization has found itself at odds with some historic partners in the civil rights community and CEO Jonathan Greenblatt has embraced a narrower focus on defending American Jews.
Greenblatt told a private audience of Republican state officials earlier this month that the current rate of antisemitism was worse than any other form of hate that has occurred during the ADL’s 100-year history.
“I have never seen anything like this before, ever — ever,” he said.
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