Philanthropy This Week

Chronicle Illustration; Getty Images/iStockphoto

Good morning.

Two days after Donald Trump won the presidential election, Earthjustice was already seeing an uptick in donations. It wasn’t alone. Rage giving is on the upswing at charities whose missions may be threatened by the new administration, reports Rasheeda Childress.

That isn’t a surprise. After Trump’s 2016 election, liberal-leaning groups saw a 155 percent boost in giving, according to one survey. People gave for a variety of reasons, Jennifer Taylor, co-author of the book Rage Giving, told Rasheeda: “Their goals are twofold: first to alleviate those feelings — channel them in a functional way into something productive and constructive. The second goal is that people really see small gifts to philanthropy as a viable form of civic engagement.”

Some gave spontaneously, but many gave because the nonprofit asked.

It’s too early to tell if rage giving will reach the levels it did during Trump’s first administration, but experts told Rasheeda that nonprofits can take steps to ratchet up those gifts by explaining how their organization can help and updating their websites with relevant messages. The Earthjustice site, for example, has a popup box that says, ““Trump is more prepared this time. We are, too.”

Not all nonprofits should cite the election in their year-end appeals, reports Jie Jenny Zou in another article. Experts told Jenny it doesn’t make sense to change appeals if the election won’t likely affect your work. But if you do change your message, take care not to resort to polarizing language.

And in a third piece, two nonprofit executives offer strategic, fiscal, and communications tips to help nonprofits prepare for changes in the new administration. “Now is the time to start thinking through all the possible scenarios, focusing on your operating environment, business, and revenue,” write Tom Bartlett and Sara Gibson of 20 Degrees.

Here’s what else you need to know:

DAKOTA SANTIAGO/The New York Times/Redux

Grassroots climate justice groups are the heart of the solution to today’s climate problems, write the actor Mark Ruffalo, founder of the Solutions Project, and Gloria Walton, its president.

“With dramatic reductions expected in federal funding for climate solutions during the Trump administration, philanthropy must play a much larger role, especially at the community level. The work of grassroots climate organizations is at heightened risk at the very moment it’s needed most.”

The Catholic University of America

A billionaire co-founder of the Carlyle Group is about a third of the way toward his goal to give $1 billion to shore up the nursing profession. Bill Conway and his late wife, Joanne Barkett Conway, were inspired to do so after they announced in 2011 that they were looking for a way to give $1 billion to create jobs for the poor, reports Maria Di Mento. Of the 2,500 suggestions they received, several mentioned nursing.

“It was along the lines of: If we support potential students to get a nursing degree, then they’ll always be able to get a job and take care of themselves, their families, and the rest of us,” Conway told Maria.

The gifts have gone toward student aid, new buildings, and efforts to recruit and retain faculty at 22 nursing schools in the Eastern and mid-Atlantic states. Now Conway wants to expand his support nationwide.

Getty Images

A new report aims to help nonprofits incorporate equity into evaluating outcomes and impact. The idea is to use the same lens as in hiring staff and designing programs, reports Ben Gose.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation’s report includes “actionable steps” to make sure funders and researchers consult with people in the communities they’re studying, asking questions about whether those communities are engaged in the project design and whether they’re being compensated for their contributions.

“There’s no perfect way to do it,” Casey’s Kimberly Spring told Ben. “Don’t worry about getting everything right. But try — and have the humility to recognize that you’ll make mistakes.”

— Marilyn Dickey, Senior Editor, Copy

Following outcry from the ACLU and other nonprofits, lawmakers in the House rejected a bill backed by President-elect Donald Trump that would allow the U.S. Treasury Department to strip tax-exempt status from nonprofits it found to be supporting terrorists. A coalition of more than 100 nonprofit organizations warned that the legislation would give the administration sweeping powers to target nonprofits without providing clear evidence. The measure, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass, was opposed by 145 Democrats and 1 Republican lawmaker. (The Intercept)

Even as many of its members have gravitated toward Donald Trump, the League of Latin American Citizens, or LULAC, is preparing to fight hard against the incoming administration over proposed mass deportations, voting access, and issues involving education and the social safety net. The group’s chief executive, Juan Proaño, said protecting the rights of Latinos was more critical than ever. But he added, the organization was taking into account election data that showed Latino voters, especially Latino men who voted for Trump, might not want to join such advocacy efforts. (New York Times)

Nonprofits that support immigrants in California are “preparing for the worst” as the incoming Trump administration vows to make good on campaign promises to carry out mass deportations. To help rebuild rapid-response networks created during the first Trump presidency nonprofits including CHIRLA, founded as the Coalition for Humane Immigration Rights, California Immigration Policy Center, and Oakland Rising have joined in a coalition called We Are California. They plan to expand programs offering pro bono legal assistance to immigrants facing deportation and to push local governments to expand the state’s sanctuary laws, which restrict local police from cooperating with federal law-enforcement officers. (Los Angeles Times)

Nonprofits that opposed Donald Trump’s policies during his first term in office are gearing up for another round of advocacy and lawsuits now that Trump has been elected again, but they may not be able to replicate the haul of cash they received after the 2016 election due to donor fatigue, according to leading progressive nonprofit leaders. As the Democracy Alliance, an influential network of progressive donors prepares to meet next week to plan next steps, nonprofit advocacy groups report a lack of funds to meet plans they have to resist the incoming administration. (New York Times)

In what could be a prelude to another huge batch of gifts, MacKenzie Scott sold Amazon shares worth billions of dollars in recent months, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. How much she cashed out depends on exactly when she sold the shares because of share price fluctuations, but if she sold the shares on the last day of the three-month reporting period, September 30, the proceeds would exceed $11 billion. Scott, whose net worth is estimated to be about $30 billion after the sale, has not announced specific plans for the money, but observers are expecting it to fuel “another big tranche of her giving,” says Kaky Grant, a principal at Grant Philanthropic Advisors in Charleston, S.C. (Barron’s— subscription)

A gun control nonprofit could be the ultimate beneficiary of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ bankruptcy proceedings. Humor website The Onion put up the winning bid for Infowars, the media company that Jones founded, and announced that it would provide free advertising and sponsored articles to Everytown for Gun Safety, an anti-gun violence nonprofit that was seeded with $50 million from philanthropist Michael Bloomberg after the deadly 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut. In 2022, Jones was ordered to pay families of Sandy Hook victims a total of about $1 billion for repeatedly claiming the shootings were a hoax. A judge has paused the final ruling on The Onion’s bankruptcy acquisition of Infowars to determine whether the bidding was transparent. (New York Times)

Your Chronicle subscription includes free access to GrantStation’s database of grant opportunities.

Housing: The Home Depot Foundation’s Veteran Housing Grants program awards grants to nonprofit organizations for the new construction or rehabilitation of multifamily, permanent supportive housing for veterans throughout the United States, including Puerto Rico. The grants fund physical construction costs, and must comprise less than 50% of the total development cost of the project. Grants range from $100,000 to $500,000; application deadlines December 13, 2024, and March 21 and July 3, 2025.

Visual Arts: Teiger Foundation supports curator-led initiatives in the field of contemporary visual art in the United States. Supported initiatives may include group exhibitions, single-artist surveys, participatory and community-engaged art projects, digital exhibitions, live and virtual performance in the context of the visual arts, and as-yet-unknown curatorial forms involving contemporary visual art and artists. Curators affiliated with 501(c)(3) nonprofit institutions devoted to presenting visual art may apply. Grants vary by category up to $150,000; application deadline January 28, 2025.