2024 NonProfit Professional of the Year: Jonathan Greenblatt

By Amanda L. Cole

NonProfit Professional of the Year Award

Jonathan Greenblatt

CEO and National Director
Anti-Defamation League

Last year, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) tracked nearly 9,000 incidents of antisemitism — a 140% increase over the prior year’s historic high in the project’s nearly 40-year history. Jonathan Greenblatt, who has led the nonprofit for a decade as CEO and national director, is no stranger to standing up to hate and ensuring everyone maintains their civil rights. His efforts haven’t gone unnoticed. In fact, they earned him NonProfit PRO’s 2024 NonProfit Professional of the Year Award.

Under Greenblatt’s leadership, the New York City-based organization, which aims to fight antisemitism, extremism and bias wherever and whenever it happens, has modernized its operations and increased its impact. However, his nominator indicated that this past year — and since the Israel-Hamas War conflict began — has been the nonprofit’s most important yet.

“In the year since the Oct. 7 massacre by Hamas terrorists in Israel, Jewish communities across the world have experienced an unprecedented wave of antisemitism,” the nominator said. “Jonathan Greenblatt is one of the nation’s foremost voices fighting against antisemitism, bigotry and hatred.”

Greenblatt regularly appears on national television and podcasts to condemn all forms of extremism and travels the world to meet with world leaders and educate others on antisemitism. Since the Oct. 7 attack, he has spoken at Hostages Square, visited the site of the Nova Music Festival massacre and met with hostage families in Israel. Over the summer, Greenblatt also led the organization as it filed a historic lawsuit against Iran, Syria and North Korea, holding the countries accountable for providing material support to Hamas for the massacre.

As tensions flared at college campuses across the country, he testified before Congress to share how to combat antisemitism. He then spearheaded the Campus Antisemitism Report Card that assessed policies in place to counter antisemitism and protect Jewish students.

In addition, he created a new legal division that has managed more than 650 Title VI civil rights complaints on behalf of Jewish students. With the help of pro bono attorneys, the Anti-Defamation League has pursued cases against educational institutions, including the School District of Philadelphia, The Ohio State University and the University of California, Los Angeles.

In a push to reinstate New York’s mask ban, Greenblatt, in partnership with several national civil rights organizations, launched the #UnMaskHate campaign to prevent people from intimidating and hurting others while hiding behind masks. But one of the nonprofit’s biggest initiatives, according to his nominator, is the Never Is Now summit — the world’s largest summit on antisemitism and hate — that continues to grow with Greenblatt at the helm.

“Greenblatt has shaped ADL into one of the most prominent nonprofit organizations,” his nominator said. “Though the months following Oct. 7 have been very challenging, ADL and the Jewish people have time and time again looked to Jonathan to lead the fight against antisemitism.”

Prior to joining the Anti-Defamation League in 2015, Greenblatt held various government positions. Most recently, he served as special assistant to President Barack Obama and director of the White House’s Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation. He also was an entrepreneur, co-founding Ethos Water — a bottled water brand that helps children worldwide access clean water, which Starbucks acquired in 2005 — and All for Good — one of the largest online databases of volunteer opportunities, which Points of Light acquired in 2011.