The Anti-Defamation League (ADL)’s mission is both enormous and very personal. It is the forest, and it is also the trees. ADL’s leader, Jonathan Greenblatt, explains: “When I was in college, I interned at the ADL in Boston. The work was about changing the world into a more tolerant, accepting place—one person, one interaction at a time. Today, my day to day job is essentially the same—to protect the Jewish people and fighting for civil rights for all people. It’s about trying to do this every day, trying not to get ahead of myself, and making sure that our organization is well positioned to continue to serve effectively in the interest of making the world a better place.”

In April 2017, ADL staff members joined more than 100 other individuals—data scientists, academics, and other nonprofit leaders—to apply advanced technologies to analyze FBI hate crime data with an eye toward identifying previously unknown data points, patterns, and trends. The event represented the dawn of a new era in combating hate crimes.

It also represented the new face of the ADL, emerging under the leadership of Jonathan Greenblatt.

Jonathan was eager to make sure they had the right strategy to fit the times, leveraged core capabilities in a manner consistent with broader community, and maintained fidelity to mission. To help with this, Greenblatt hired Bridgespan.

As part of this work, Jonathan initiated a participatory, open process among ADL senior staff to:

  • Articulate core values to bookend the mission and guide the organization;
  • Lay out a strategy with clear priorities in terms of where the ADL would focus its efforts over next five years; and,
  • Identify and develop metrics to measure progress against the strategy.

Learn more about the Anti-Defamation League at The Bridgespan Group.