Last year, we asked a group of Leading Edge Employee Experience Survey participants to volunteer to be “Culture Ambassadors”. These are leaders in HR, operations, or executive leadership in the Jewish nonprofit sector who have volunteered to share information with us from time to time about how their organizations are handling talent and culture issues. Leaders constantly ask us about trends in this area, and we appreciate our Culture Ambassadors’ willingness to be one way among many that we track what’s happening on the ground.

In November 2022, we asked our Culture Ambassadors to check in with us about the state of culture in Jewish organizations. We heard from people at 82 organizations. (Please note, this is a smaller sample size than our annual Employee Experience Survey captures. Additionally, and like the Employee Experience Survey, remember that this is a non-random, self-selected sample, so it can’t be taken as a precise measure of what’s happening in the entire field. Still, this is a valuable glance into dozens of Jewish nonprofits.)

Here are the top five takeaways from what our Culture Ambassadors told us:

Is your organization working on hiring, benefits, turnover, performance management, and in-house talent capacity? Below are a few programs and resources that might help.

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Five insights from our “Culture Ambassadors” in the field.

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Dana Childress joins Leading Edge as the Vice President, Leading Places to Work. She is charged with supporting the field’s “people people”, building their capacity, creating a community of practice and helping organizations become great places to work. 

Previously, she completed a 15-year tenure with Teach For America, developing and leading the organization’s talent acquisition efforts to hire its staff. Her team worked to bring in over 500 hires annually, with a focus on building strong and diverse applicant pools and implementing culturally competent hiring practices. Most recently, she led hiring for the organization’s Executive Directors, bringing together multiple stakeholders, including regional boards, to strategically run ED searches. She thrives on helping individuals and teams develop their strengths and weather change in this dynamic moment in workplaces across the country. She began her time with Teach For America as a high school teacher, serving as a corps member in St. Louis. 

Dana graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with majors in Journalism and Political Science. She lives in Washington, D.C. with her husband, Patrick and two young, active sons, Cole and Ben. She is an active community member, and currently serves on the KIPP DC Ambassador board. 

Vice President, Leading Places to Work

Dana Childress

Dana Childress is VP of Leading Places to Work at Leading Edge.