In a powerful op-ed last year calling upon the Jewish communal sector to respond to the impending crisis of widespread professional burnout, Barry Finestone wrote: “We ask people to work in a storm that’s battering all of us from every angle. If we don’t start protecting and replenishing them now, there won’t be enough of them left to rebuild whatever comes next.”

I want to tell you a story that is actively unfolding: it is the story of Keshet’s staff, and how what we’ve learned while weathering the present storm can benefit your team.

Thomas Ulrich/Pixabay

In 2025 alone, over 1,000 pieces of anti-LGBTQ+ legislation were proposed across the U.S. at the state and federal levels. In 2026, that number is at 530 so far. Anti-LGBTQ+ disinformation and hate are on the rise, alongside skyrocketing antisemitism across the globe and the political spectrum.

Our organization is deeply, personally affected by this current climate. Over 40% of Keshet’s staff are trans and nonbinary, and all are LGBTQ+ or have an LGBTQ+ child. We have been called “domestic terrorists,” “anti-American,” “groomers,” combinations of antisemitic and anti-LGBTQ+ slurs, and worse — not just in speeches and tweets by our most powerful public office holders, but on Keshet’s social media channels, in hate group blogs targeting our organization, in our email inboxes, and on hand-written postcards sent directly to staff.

Several Keshet staff have relocated to different states for their own safety. Some are weighing their options, wondering when they’ll know it’s the right time to pack up and leave. Many have had to create and implement back-up plans for their healthcare due to restrictive laws in their states. 

This constant daily fighting for our own safety and belonging, in both the Jewish community and broader world, should lead to burnout and high turnover. And yet, our organization’s retention rate from 2025 to 2026 was 92%. By the end of August this year, 90% of our staff will have been at Keshet for over 2 years, 70% for over 3 years and 40% for over 5 years. 

Not only that, but when 100% of our 33-person team completed the latest Leading Edge employment survey in January, these were the results:

• 94% reported “My organization helps me stay motivated to do my best work”
• 97% reported “I am enabled to take my available paid time off”
• 100% reported “Employee wellbeing is a priority at my organization”
• 100% reported “I would recommend my organization as a great place to work”
• 100% reported “I have confidence in our leaders to lead the organization effectively”

How are we able to achieve these outcomes? By “protecting and replenishing” our team, to borrow Finestone’s words. By investing in wellness and safety and modeling a culture of care for the whole self, we keep morale and retention high. 

Everything we do toward this end can be replicated within other organizations. It’s both feasible and worthwhile to invest in organizational culture and staff wellbeing. Here are just some of the policies and practices that contribute to the balance and joy of Keshet’s organizational culture. Many of these have been in place at Keshet for years; others are in direct response to today’s reality. All are informed by our organizational values and commitment to racial justice and equity. They may inform your organization’s approach to supporting your team, too. 

Protecting our rest

Our team works tirelessly to support our communities and create change. We also want them to replenish. Following Pride Month in June, one of the busiest times of year for Keshet, we close our offices for the first week of July, allowing our entire organization to catch its breath, an opportunity made more impactful thanks to the support of R&R’s BREAKWEEK. From May to August, staff take one Friday off a month without needing to use paid time off. For any staff who have worked full-time at Keshet for seven years, we offer a three-month sabbatical that they can spend doing whatever they wish.

Most importantly, when members of our team are offline, their time offline is respected. While our work is life-affirming and, in many cases, life-saving, its importance does not necessitate infringing upon the much-needed time off our professionals take. 

Keeping our staff safe

With support from the Jim Joseph Foundation and Charles and Lynn Schusterman Family Philanthropies, Keshet covers monthly subscriptions to Kanary, protecting our team from doxxing and other threats by regularly scrubbing our personal information from the internet. 

We are mindful of state laws and how they might impact our team’s safety when making decisions about required staff travel. For example, we do not host all-staff retreats in states with restrictive policies on transgender people having safe access to public bathrooms, being able to use their IDs, or that have restrictive laws on abortion healthcare. We also cover staff members’ travel TSA precheck and Clear fees.

Honoring our whole selves at work

People feel supported when they know they are not alone. We host ongoing staff affinity groups, including a trans and nonbinary staff group, a disabled staff/staff with disabilities group and a Jews of color staff group.

We host optional processing spaces for staff to gather and connect in response to current events. We bring in outside pastoral care and social work support regularly, so that staff can process the more painful parts of our work as part of our work, not something exclusively relegated to our external lives.

We celebrate and mark personal achievements — birthdays, weddings, divorces, births, gender-affirming care milestones, and more — with public recognition, cards and/or a thoughtful gift from our Org Culture Team, depending on that person’s preference.

Showing gratitude and public recognition

We intentionally carve out time and space to celebrate our wins and each other. Every week, for over eight years now, we collect messages of appreciation for team members and compile them into a slide deck for everyone to view. 

Every hire date anniversary (Keshet-versary) is celebrated with a public shoutout and a gift organized by the supervisor. Fifth and 10th year anniversaries are marked with a full staff celebration based on the person’s preferences — everything from an open mic staff sing-a-long, to a personal booklet of appreciations written by colleagues, and more.

As one staff member shared in our Leading Edge survey, “This is why I love working at Keshet — there is a deep sense from everyone I work with on a day-to-day basis that we not only care about our shared work and mission, but about each other.”

Looking back, especially at the past year-and-a-half, I do not want to imagine what might have happened if we had not invested in our team’s well-being as a top priority. The real danger we might have experienced. The talent we would have lost. The setbacks our work would have suffered.

Instead, I get to marvel at what this investment made possible: Over 8,000 Jewish professionals trained to build more inclusive and welcoming communities. Over 1,600 Jewish LGBTQ+ and allied youth empowered. Over 600 Jewish organizations energized to foster LGBTQ+ belonging.

We took our work to new heights — because we had the energy, motivation, and support we needed to soar. 

And now? We’re ready “to build whatever comes next.”

Jaimie Krass is the president and CEO of Keshet.