Funding Under Threat? Four Ways Nonprofits Can Unite

The news coming out of the nonprofit sector right now is not good. Tens of thousands of nonprofits in the U.S. are facing tough challenges to their funding and to their core missions—challenges that are coming at them quickly, with little or no warning.

Actually, let’s not call them challenges, let’s name them what they are: threats to our communities’ safety net. According to the Urban Institute, 103,475 public charities reported receiving a total of over $267 billion from government grants in 2021. The inflation-adjusted total of over $300 billion represents almost three times the most recent estimates of foundation giving. We all know the reality: If even a small percentage of this funding is cut, the nonprofits that serve our communities will be profoundly diminished at the least, ravaged or rendered useless at the worst.

Each organization’s leadership must decide how to respond to these threats. Options exist: Doing nothing is not one of them. Know that even if your organization’s funding isn’t under threat of major cuts at this time, you can’t continue doing business as usual. The nonprofit sector is a family. Whether you work protecting the environment, protecting children, promoting the arts, or providing child care and education, we are all in this together.

It is time for the nonprofit sector across the U.S. to unite with one voice and one clear message that demonstrates not just the need for the services provided, but how all aspects of all of our lives will be devastated in varying degrees if those services disappear.

Four Ways to Confront Fundraising Threats

1. Engage in Urgent and Consistent Messaging

Your leadership—board, staff, and major donors—must have a frank discussion on how to keep the community informed on what each cut in federal, and possibly state, support will mean to the community you serve and to the operation of your organization. You must find a way to keep both current and future impacts of government cuts in front of the community. Perhaps engage a local news source that will provide ongoing updates for public consumption. Be relentless in your messaging. Make sure this information is getting out to the public if you want to change hearts and minds.

2. Analyze Each Revenue Stream

We’re all aware of decreased federal government support, but we mustn’t be naive about the possible impact of the current political chaos on other revenue streams as well. Look at the income you now have from corporations/businesses, major donors, membership, events, earned income, and private grants. Be aware that major donors may have lost a substantial amount in the stock market and corporations and businesses may be wary of making financial commitments in this volatile economy. Step back and analyze each revenue source and create a strategy to shore it up to support your current level of services to your community.

3. Reinforce and Build New Partnerships

As important as shoring up your revenue streams may be, you must also address how you will work with other organizations in your community to keep the public informed about the impact of funding cuts. This is where speaking with one voice and sending a coherent, unified message could generate real change. But speaking with a united voice isn’t easy. The United Nations has tried for years to bring everyone to the table to consider and adopt the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals. Attempting to get disparate organizations and governments across the globe on the same page is a huge vision, one worth pursuing as it has stimulated fruitful discussion and resulted in some commendable actions. But will they achieve their 17 goals? Unlikely. Why? I believe it is because the goals didn’t originate at the grassroots level.

4. Build Grassroots Support

This is where the Third Sector shines. We all know that educating individuals is key to the work we do. We have learned over the decades that change only happens when each person begins to understand any given situation and can see for themselves the potential outcomes, both good and bad. The current political leadership in this country has launched a campaign to unravel the safety net that has kept our communities healthy places to live, work, and raise our children. They are counting on the populace to ride this wave of chaos hoping it won’t affect them or worse yet hoping it will go away. And unless the nonprofit sector speaks up with a united voice, the political leadership will probably prevail.

I have news for the current political leadership in the U.S: Those of us who make up the Third Sector—you, me, your boards, your staff, your supporters—know how to run a grassroots campaign with the best of them. We know how to pull together to launch a campaign that provides solid information so individuals in our communities can reason out how each cut, language change, and piece of inaccurate information will impact their lives.      

The work that lies immediately ahead is as much about education as action. The situation we face is dire. Our responsibility to our communities is to make sure they know as clearly as we can communicate what may lie in store and what we’re doing to mitigate the impact as much as possible.

Review the Urban Institute’s interactive chart to help you visualize the impact of government cuts to organizations in your state. Use this information to build your own messages to help individuals visualize the impacts of proposed cuts.

I encourage you to let our national political leadership know that their unconscionable decisions will not resonate well with communities across America.