WHAT WE’RE READING ELSEWHERE
Nonprofits and the Trump Administration
Trump administration officials are exploring ways to challenge nonprofits’ tax-exempt status, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Various top Internal Revenue Service lawyers have “privately discussed the nonprofit rules with agency officials, including those at the tax-exempt division,” and plan to investigate “the tax-exempt status of a select group of nonprofit organizations,” without naming specific groups. Meanwhile, White House officials are looking for ways to target groups’ tax-exempt status and their endowments, a source said. A spokesman for the IRS did not respond to a request for comment, while a Treasury Department spokeswoman said, “It is the job of any agency counsel to meet with department teams to ensure a fulsome understanding of all rules and processes.” The administration has denied that it is preparing an executive order seeking to strip away nonprofits’ tax-exempt status. (Wall Street Journal — subscription)
A bipartisan group of members of Congress is requesting a record $500 million for nonprofit security grants in the upcoming federal budget. That amount would double the current spending. In a letter to leaders of the House Appropriations Committee, the 130 representatives say the increase is needed to counter an uptick in extremist violence and attacks on nonprofits and places of worship. The request is likely a long shot, as the administration has proposed deep cuts to the pot of money from which the grants come. The Anti-Defamation League recorded more than 1,700 “antisemitic incidents targeting Jewish institutions” in 2024, according to an executive with the organization. (Jewish Insider)
As Bill Gates prepares to plow $200 billion into his philanthropy before it sunsets in 20 years, he is counting on innovation and, eventually, a global change of heart to resume the progress made on public health since 2000. Partnerships of governments, philanthropy, and others have helped slash extreme poverty and childhood deaths, but cuts in foreign aid by the world’s wealthiest countries could erase some of that progress, he warned. Gates predicted future U.S. administrations would restore at least some of the funding, but he said debt forgiveness for sub-Saharan countries is key to their self-sufficiency. In the meantime, he blasted Elon Musk for the destruction of the U.S. Agency for International Development, saying, “The world’s richest man has been involved in the deaths of the world’s poorest children.” (New York Times)
With the gutting of the federal AmeriCorps program, service groups across the country are cutting back, and some could even close. The agency sent 200,000 volunteers and hundreds of millions of dollars to local groups that repair homes for low-income families, manage community gardens, mentor children, and perform other services. Some organizations have patched together more private donations, but philanthropy cannot match the federal support that stood behind AmeriCorps. “It’s not sustainable in the long term, because those investments historically have been part of the puzzle, not the whole puzzle,” the head of a volunteer agency in Louisiana said. (Associated Press)
People enduring war, facing starvation, recovering from torture, or living with HIV/AIDS are among the casualties of foreign aid cuts during the first 100 days of the second Trump administration. In South Sudan, people have died before they could reach the nearest hospital after Save the Children closed one-fourth of its clinics. In Tanzania, Eswatini, and Lesotho, only some AIDS relief efforts have resumed after an initial shutdown. And food aid has ended in Yemen and Afghanistan, both of which face severe hunger crises. The president of the Center for Victims of Torture, which helps people in Ethiopia, Kenya, and Jordan and has lost 75 percent of its budget, said the cuts meant “literally just shutting and locking doors and telling them we don’t know if and when we’ll ever be able to resume again.” (Washington Post)
The country’s rural and tribal public radio stations are imperiled by the Trump administration’s efforts to eliminate funding for public broadcasting. A lifeline during emergencies, especially when internet service is unavailable, the stations get as much as half of their annual budgets from the federal government. That makes them more vulnerable than the stated targets of the administration’s wrath, NPR and the Public Broadcasting Service. To prepare for possible cuts, the stations have been pooling resources for several years, but if the federal funds disappeared, “I don’t know how we’d survive,” said the general manager of a public radio station in Alaska. (Columbia Journalism Review)
Nonprofits that aid and defend immigrants are struggling to find major law firms to do pro bono work contesting the Trump administration’s actions. That is a departure from Trump’s first term, as this time around Trump has targeted firms that try to thwart his agenda. Advocates cite a chilling effect, and one lawyer whose firm has sued the administration said Trump’s quick success at neutralizing legal opposition “is truly terrifying.” Meanwhile, major public interest law groups are staffing up and seeing a crush of requests for representation. (New York Times)
A report by New York City’s comptroller says the city owes more than $1 billion on at least 7,000 unpaid invoices to nonprofit contractors, some dating back years. Officials have cited increased oversight paperwork, a glitchy new payment portal, and understaffing as the main culprits. Proposed solutions, some of which have been implemented, include paying in advance, making bridge loans, or paying approved portions of invoices so that disputed line items do not cause unnecessary delays. Some officials are also proposing paying the interest that nonprofits incur on loans they take out to survive the payment delays. (New York Times)
Rising prices, an economic downturn, and federal spending cuts have food banks bracing for a “perfect storm.” More people need their services, while grocers and wholesalers are donating less food; one charity in upstate New York recently paid twice as much for half as much food as it had in October. The CEO of a northeastern New York-state food bank “has said the [federal] cuts will halve its food this year, translating to a loss of 6.5 million meals.” About 47 million Americans, including 14 million children, lack reliable access to food, according to Bread for the World, an anti-hunger organization. (New York Times)
A new generation of civil rights activists in the South are renewing a push for universal access to health care, which was also a priority for their forebears in the 1960s. This year marks the 60th anniversary of Medicaid and Medicare, but as many Southern states decline to expand eligibility for Medicaid, hospitals are closing, doctors can be scarce, and underserved Black communities continue to have worse health outcomes than predominantly white areas. Advocates cite the example of Martin Luther King Jr., who called health care injustice “the most shocking and the most inhuman” form of inequality. “The connection between Medicare, Medicaid, and the civil rights movement was there from the beginning,” said a scholar of public health history. (Stateline)
Your Chronicle subscription includes free access to GrantStation’s database of grant opportunities.
Music: The Levitt Foundation’s Levitt Music Series Grants provide three-year matching grants to bring free outdoor concerts to communities across the United States. Applications are accepted in the following categories: Levitt AMP is geared to towns and cities with populations under 250,000. Levitt VIBE, geared to large cities with a population over 250,000, brings free outdoor concerts to neighborhoods where there is limited access to arts programming and live music. Levitt BLOC, geared to communities of any size, activates different neighborhoods in a town or city by “layering” concerts across multiple public spaces. Grants up to $40,000 per year for three years; application deadline June 30.
Legal Expenses: The Impact Fund provides grants to legal services nonprofits, private attorneys, and small law firms in the United States who seek to confront economic, environmental, racial, and social injustice. Funding is provided for specific cases targeting social justice, including human and civil rights; environmental justice; and economic justice, including workers’ rights and consumer protection. Grants may be used for out-of-pocket litigation expenses such as expert fees and discovery costs. Grants typically $10,000 to $50,000; remaining 2025 deadlines for letters of inquiry are July 8 and October 7.
