Insights

“We hope to sustain and amplify ADL as the leading anti-hate organization in the world, and it is an honor to support it with our commitment to the Livingston Legacy Society. 

I’ve been a lay leader for ADL for 34 years now and I’ve taken that title very much to heart. Leaders must be the standard by which others will measure their own commitments and investment; I know that those who came before me were certainly the example that I looked to coming up through the ranks. Steve and I want ADL to be here, doing the same critically important work for our grandchildren that it was doing for our grandparents, and we want it to be even more effective. 

From generation to generation, ADL only ever goes from strength to strength, in large part because of the foresight and generosity of donors who commit to leaving a legacy gift. We know that our gift alone will not be enough to change the world, but if enough families like ours make the commitment to leave something behind for ADL, it just might be.” 

Lori Gans has served in many leadership capacities at ADL, including serving on the executive committee of the Northeast Region since 1989 and as a member of the National Commission since 1995. She was the first recipient of New England’s Krupp Young Leadership Award. Lori was the creator of New England’s Leadership Institute, which became ADL’s national Glass Leadership Institute, and is a longtime trainer for ADL’s flagship education programs Confronting Antisemitism, Words to Action as well as Echoes & Reflections, ADL’s inspiring Holocaust education resource for teachers. 

At the national level, Lori served two terms as national co-chair of the Campus/Higher Education Affairs Committee, chaired the Northeast Quadrant of the Education Committee, and served for many years on the National Leadership Committee. In 1995, she was a first recipient of the ADL Daniel Ginsberg National Leadership Award. Lori currently works at MIT’s School of Architecture and Planning. She and her husband, Steve, a partner at the Boston Law firm Prince Lobel Tye LLP, have two sons and a puppy named Mila, which means ‘beloved’ because she is. 

Join Lori and Steve Gans in the Livingston Legacy Society with a commitment to fighting antisemitism and all forms of hate. You can transform the future when you remember ADL in your will or trust or name ADL as a beneficiary of your retirement plan, life insurance or other account. 

In April 2022, ADL announced the creation of the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research (CAR) to deepen understanding of the world’s oldest ethnic hatred through a combination of scholarly investigation and empirical research. 

CAR builds upon ADL’s century-plus of antisemitism expertise through an applied research network, innovative initiatives and signature projects to evaluate and identify what makes a difference in the fight against this hatred. 

With pioneering approaches and a peer-review process, CAR ensures its studies are rigorous and accurate, upholding academic best practices with accessible analysis. CAR aims to diagnose the causes of antisemitism and apply what they learn through practical on-the-ground efforts — by ADL and our communal partners — to decrease antisemitism in communities in the U.S. and around the world. 

Antisemitic Attitudes in America 

A recent survey released by CAR found widespread belief in antisemitic conspiracy theories and tropes — nearly doubling the rates of antisemitic prejudice ADL found in 2019 — as well as substantially negative anti-Israel sentiment among Americans. 

ADL has measured antisemitic attitudes among Americans since the early 1960s. This most recent survey used a more nuanced suite of questions that provide greater understanding. The survey of a representative sample of more than 4,000 U.S. adults asked the extent to which Americans agreed with different statements about anti-Jewish tropes and found that 20 percent of Americans — as many as 52 million people — agreed with six or more of the 11 anti- Jewish statements used by ADL since 1964. 

Among the findings: 39 percent of respondents believe that Jews are more loyal to Israel than the United States; 20 percent say Jews have “too much power” in the United States; 21 percent think that Jews “don’t care about anyone other than themselves”; and 53 percent say that Jews will go out of their way to hire other Jews. These findings reveal substantial belief in anti-Jewish tropes — such as Jews are too powerful, selfish, foreign and clannish — ideas that have incited violence against Jewish communities around the globe for centuries. 

Unlike in years past, researchers found that young people seem to hold similar levels of belief in anti-Jewish tropes compared to older adults. This report also shows that anti-Israel sentiment, including anti-Israel sentiment rooted in antisemitic conspiracy theories, is held by broad swaths of the population. 

Throughout the year, ADL will continue to release a series of reports outlining key findings from its 2022 national survey. These reports will probe deeply into antisemitic attitudes among different subpopulations; views of Jewish stereotypes; similarities and differences among prejudices against Jews and other groups; and key drivers of belief in anti-Jewish tropes and anti-Israel sentiment. 

The survey questionnaire was designed as a large-scale collaboration between the staff at the ADL Center for Antisemitism Research, the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago, the One8 Foundation, Jewish communal and civil rights leaders and an academic advisory board of scholars.

If you want to help foster the acceptance and inclusion of all people with a gift that doesn’t affect your current finances, then a beneficiary designation could be the best option for you.

Your potential benefits include: 

• Reduced or eliminated taxes on retirement assets 

• Reduced or avoided probate fees 

• No cost to you today 

• You create a legacy of fighting hate with ADL 

You can make a gift by beneficiary designation with your: 

• Retirement funds (e.g., IRA) 

• Life insurance policy 

• Donor-advised fund (DAF) residuals 

• Bank, brokerage or other financial accounts 

It’s easy to name ADL as a beneficiary: 

• Simply request a change of beneficiary form from your plan administrator and add ADL as a full or partial beneficiary. You can often do this by logging into your account online. 

• Clearly designate our legal name: Anti-Defamation League Foundation 

• Include our tax identification number: 13-2887439 

• Share your wishes with us! We hope you will let us know so we can thank you and confirm your intentions. 

By taking advantage of this simple but effective way to give back, you’ll be helping ADL fight antisemitism for years to come.