How to Fend Off Attacks on Nonprofits—Three Key Strategies

That nonprofits are under attack from the administration of President Donald Trump and the Republicans in Washington, DC, is obvious. Recently, the US House of Representatives introduced a bill that would give the US Treasury Secretary unilateral authority to remove a nonprofit’s tax exemption based on a personal assessment that the nonprofit was supporting “terrorism.” That provision, fortunately, was removed from the bill on May 19.

But that is only the latest assault of many. Whether it is students being arrested or institutions cowering when faced with the withholding of federal funds, the threats to civil society are obvious—even as many institutions, such as the National Council of Nonprofits, have been vigilant in resistance.

Lawsuits, like the ones that the Council of Nonprofits have filed, are a vital tool for movements today. But long term, the courts alone won’t save us; we need to be organizing. Three strategies are vitally important:

1. Donors and foundations must step up with more resources and by boldly asserting their right to fund racial justice, equity, inclusion, and diversity
2. Civil society leaders must stand their ground and act with courage.
3. Organizations not directly targeted must stand in solidarity with those who are being attacked.

All this, of course, is easy to say, harder to do. How do we turn ideas into action?

How Funders Can Step Up

First, some words of realism. I have led the National Center for Responsive Philanthropy for nearly two decades, and from my experience I must concede what is now obvious: Donors and foundations who care about equity and justice have been outmaneuvered and outspent by donors who want to pull our society in the opposite direction.

Talk to your program officers—about your needs, of course, but also about the broader need for resourcing movement-wide.

For just one example, our research found that right-wing donors spent $1 billion in just three years resourcing 150 nonprofits that worked on suppressing the vote in the 2024 election. Conservative donors have also spent heavily resourcing the anti-LGBTQ+ movement and the anti-immigrant movement.

Meanwhile, communities on the front lines of these movements and the social justice organizations supporting them have spent decades fighting these dangers, for a tiny fraction of what every regressive group receives.

It’s a promising sign that some foundations have increased their spending in recent weeks. The Marguerite Casey Foundation dipped into its corpus to dramatically increase its spending this year from a standard range of $23 to $57 million to $130 million—more than double its previous high. The MacArthur Foundation increased its payout from 5 to 6 percent or more for the next two years, and the Freedom Together Foundation committed to a 10 percent payout. If civil society organizations are going to fight back effectively against authoritarian attacks, they need resources that donors and foundations can provide. The rainy day is here. It’s time to spend more.

Nonprofit leaders can also play a role here! Talk to your program officers—about your needs, of course, but also about the broader need for resourcing movement-wide. When funders hear a similar message from multiple grantees, in my experience, they are far more likely to be responsive.

Standing Our Ground

Donors and foundations also need to stand strong in defending their right to fund work that advances diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice. Too many funders have scrubbed their websites of those words, hoping to avoid detection by those in power.

But that approach won’t save us. As foundation leaders Tonya Allen, Deepak Bhargava, and John Palfrey asked us to do, we must unite in advance.

[Keeping our heads down] won’t save us. As foundation leaders Tonya Allen, Deepak Bhargava, and John Palfrey asked us to do, we must unite in advance.

Not long ago, writing in NPQ, Hildy Gottlieb wisely wrote, “Keeping your head down and obeying may feel safe in the short term, but when you pick your head back up, you will find that nothing is as it was and you are facing even more hardship. Making yourself small is rarely a strong long-term strategy.”

Gottlieb’s article cited the example of PBS, which shut down its DEI office last February before the federal government had asked it to do so. Perhaps PBS leadership thought these program cuts would preserve federal funding. But of course, Trump issued an executive order in May seeking to cut federal funding of PBS anyway. The benefit of their early concession: exactly zero, precisely as Gottlieb predicted.

Courage offers greater benefits. The civil rights movement was fueled in part by courageous donors who funded civil rights organizers even though it was highly controversial. We need the spirit of those Freedom Funders—organizations like the Field Foundation, the New World Foundation, the Stern Family Fund, and the Taconic Foundation, who did not let popular opposition stop them from stepping up to do the right thing—today more than ever.

Leaders of nonprofit organizations also need to stand strong. Institutions should not cave in to extortion and abusive attacks from this administration, as Columbia University did.

Harvard’s decision not to back down was admirable. (Notably, Columbia’s spinelessness led directly to the federal attacks on Harvard.) By contrast, Harvard’s decision has inspired other universities, even Columbia, to discover their backbones.

It will take a national groundswell of community-based social action to build a multiracial democracy.

We need that same courage to spread to thousands more nonprofits. Of course, most nonprofits do not have near the resources that Harvard does. But if your organization is doing real equity work, it is important to keep going. The administration might attack you. Do it anyway.

And if or when one of us gets attacked, those of us who are not under attack must support those who are. That’s called solidarity—and it will be an essential value in the struggle ahead.

The Role of Solidarity

The freedom to associate and speak freely is under concerted attack. Some people, especially Black people who faced White vigilante violence in the US South, or Native families who had their children taken from them, sadly have far too much historical experience of such attacks. Others may have less direct experience.

We know that the task ahead is no small thing. It will take a national groundswell of community-based social action to build a multiracial democracy and push back against the forces that want to redefine and narrow the scope of democratic practice.

The good news is that we can defeat these attacks on civil society if we prevent the administration from picking off a few groups at a time—if we’re all in this together.

Are we up to the task? Time will tell, but I remain optimistic that enough people leading nonprofits and foundations will, in the end, do the right thing.