Key Message: The Nonprofit Killer Bill was removed from the bill that passed the House. (It will likely be back soon in the next stage of this reconciliation bill, or someplace else.) But this Big, Bloated Bill still features a massive attack on nonprofits, philanthropy, and the people we serve. Nonprofits are essential deliverers of America’s social safety net. Slash the net and you hurt nonprofits and the people we serve. We have to stand up against attacks on the middle class, on the social sector, and on the social safety net.

Calls to Action:

1. Little Effort: We encourage you to have your nonprofit or foundation sign-on to the National Letter to Protect and Strengthen Nonprofit Organizations in the Tax Package. This letter, addressed to Congressional leaders, is being coordinated by the Council on Foundations,  Independent Sector, National Council of Nonprofits, and United Philanthropy Forum. Click here to read or download the letter before signing it.

2. Modest-to-High Effort: Show your United States Senators the pain this bill would inflict on the communities they represent and whose interests they are sworn to serve.

• Invite a senator to come to your organization, or another organization in your community. To meet the people you serve. To see how Medicaid and other government systems make these meaningful and critical services possible.
• If you can’t get one or more of your senators on-site in the coming month, show your senators the pain by creating videos on your phone, interviewing nonprofit executives, line staff, clients, and donors, etc. Tell the story of how nonprofits deliver and underwrite the government’s basic social safety net.  
• Urge your senators to oppose the Big, Bloated Bill in conversation, in videos, or in calls and emails to their office.
• You could actually change their vote. They can also use this experience in their arguments about the bill, to surface the impact on nonprofits and communities

This Week's Podcast Episode: Defend Nonprofits, Defend the Social Safety Net. Today’s installment of the DNDD Series on our the Fund the People Podcast updates you on how the Big, Bloated Bill in Congress will impact nonprofits and philanthropy. And our interview with Edward Hershey, CEO at Home of Guiding Hands, offers a deep dive into how the proposed law would impact nonprofits that hold up America’s social safety net.

Headlines: Here’s our bi-weekly roundup of key news articles, press releases, and opinion pieces from the past two weeks – plus a few bonus items.

• State of Nonprofits: What Funders Need to Know - 2025 Report, by Elisha Smith Arrillaga, Ph.D.; Emily Yang; and Christina Im, Center for Effective Philanthropy, 5/29/25 [This survey of nonprofit executive directors: "staffing continues to be a key challenge, with nearly 2/3rd having difficulty filling vacancies, and more than 1/2 noting insufficient funding to recruit, retain, and support their staff."  It also finds that "Burnout remains a top concern: nearly 90% express concern about their own burnout and a similar percentage indicate burnout is impacting their staff."]
• ‘A Gross Overreach’ – Colorado Nonprofit Association on Funding Cuts and Executive Orders, by Kiara DeMare, Colorado Public Radio, 05/26/25
• Trump Suggests Giving Trade Schools Money Taken From Harvard, The New York Times, Stephanie Saul, 05/26/25
• As the Tax Bill Heads to the Senate, Here’s How Philanthropy Is Fighting Back, Chronicle of Philanthropy, Ben Gose, 05/23/25
• Trump’s Anti-DEI Battle Threatens Nonprofits Trying to Fill Critical Labor Gaps, By Claire Savage and Alexandra Olson, Associated Press via Chronicle of Philanthropy, 05/22/25
• Nonprofits Sue Trump Administration Over Illegal Freeze of Billions For Electric Vehicle Charging, press release from Earthjustice, 05/22/25
• Boston Groups Come Together to Face the “Existential Threat” to Nonprofits, by Rebeka Barber, Nonprofit Quarterly, 05/22/25
• Judge Rules Trump Takeover of Nonprofit a “Gross Usurpation of Power”, by Lauren Girardin, Nonprofit Quarterly, 05/21/25
• The Tax Bill Is a Warning to the Nonprofit Sector: Reform or Face the Consequences, by Craig Kennedy (Opinion), Chronicle of Philanthropy, 05/21/25
• Major Funders and Nonprofits Unite Behind ‘Courage Project,’ Announce Awards, by Thalia Beaty, Associated Press, via Chronicle of Philanthropy, 05/21/25
• How to Fend Off Attacks on Nonprofits—Three Key Strategies, by Aaron Dorfman, Nonprofit Quarterly, 05/20/25
• Joint Statement on Removal of Harmful Provision in Reconciliation Bill, Council on Foundations, Independent Sector, National Council of Nonprofits, and United Philanthropy Forum, 05/19/25
• Nonprofit Killer Provision Quietly Disappears From Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill”, by Noah Hurowitz, The Intercept, 05/19/25
• Trump Tax Bill Targets Foundations and Nonprofits, by Helen Murphy, Devex Newswire, 05/14/25
• Tax Bill Takes Shot at the Largest Foundations and Universities, by Ben Gose, Chronicle of Philanthropy, 05/13/25

Bonus Headlines: These pieces are from more than two weeks ago, but we found them while compiling this Update, and thought they were interesting conceptual resources to add to the mix. 

• Grappling With Systems Collapse: How Social Sector Leaders Can Respond, by Liz Ruedy, Tom Glaisyer & Rachel Reichenbach, Stanford Social Innovation Review, 05/08/25
• How Philanthropy Can Tap Unemployed USAID Workers to Fix Democracy at Home, by Michael Jarvis and Dean Jackson (Opinion), Chronicle of Philanthropy, 05/06/25