Government Affairs Digest: What Nonprofits Need to Know (Part 13)
April 23, 2025 - This content will be updated as developments unfold.
Latest Developments:
SPECIAL ALERT: National Endowment for the Arts: Organizations with open grant awards through the National Endowment for the Arts have been advised to submit their reimbursement requests as soon as possible. Questions regarding this and what is eligible should be directed to your organization’s program or fund manager.
April 23: There has been considerable speculation regarding potential new Executive Orders affecting the tax-exempt status of nonprofits and foundations. As of Wednesday afternoon at 3:00 PM EST, no such Executive Orders have been issued. However, the ACLU and Democracy Forward are prepared to respond swiftly should the administration take action. Late last Friday afternoon, members of the Purpose Possible Government Affairs Task Force attended a call led by these organizations, where valuable resources were shared with over 5,000 attendees. We recommend that our clients and other nonprofits review these resources now, in anticipation of any new orders. We are closely monitoring this situation and will provide updates as they become available.
Nonprofit Executive Order Preparation and Response - ACLU & Democracy Forward
Relevant for: All nonprofit organizations and foundations
April 17: Interior Secretary Doug Burgum gave DOGE staffer Tyler Hassen the authority to take “all necessary actions” to carry out “consolidation, unification and optimization” at the department and its bureaus. Hassen may now make funding decisions, fire employees, create policy, oversee programs and transfer funds. According to the Washington Post, any grants and contracts worth more than $50,000 are currently under review. Hassen is a former oil executive who worked for Basin Energy, an oil field equipment company, before joining the Trump administration. The Interior Department is an agency with a portfolio that includes national parks, public lands, energy production and tribal affairs.
Read: Interior Department gives broad powers to DOGE-tied official - The Hill
Elon Musk's DOGE is now running America's national parks — SFGate
Interior secretary gives DOGE aide sweeping powers to remake department - Washington Post (Paywall)
Relevant for: Public Lands and partner organizations
April 17: The majority of Americorps staff members were placed on administrative leave with pay, effective immediately. AmeriCorps employs more than 500 full-time federal workers and has an operating budget of roughly $1 billion. The agency oversees a number of volunteering programs and dispatches 200,000 volunteers across the country to work with schoolchildren, veterans and older adults, among other things, according to its website.
Read: Most of AmeriCorps staff members have been placed on leave after DOGE cuts - AP News
DOGE Guts AmeriCorps, Agency That Organizes Community Service Programs - New York Times (Gift Link)
ASC Statement on AmeriCorps Agency Staff Reductions and NCCC Member Demobilization
Relevant For: Any organization that relies upon AmeriCorp staffers
April 17: The nonprofit Vera Institute of Justice says staff from Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency contacted them to assign a team to the organization and told them they planned to similarly install teams with all nonprofits receiving funds appropriated by Congress.
Nick Turner, president of the New York-based criminal justice nonprofit, said Wednesday the nonprofit’s attorneys asked the DOGE staffers what legal basis they had to investigate a nonprofit and informed the staffers that the U.S. Department of Justice recently terminated grants to Vera. The DOGE staffers then withdrew their request to assign a team, according to a transcript of the call provided by Vera.
Why is this important?
“This action by DOGE sets a dangerous precedent, leaving any recipient of federal funding — nonprofit, for-profit, and individuals alike — vulnerable to the whims of this destructive group,” Diance Yentel, National Council of Nonprofits said in a statement. Her organization sued to prevent a freeze of all federal funding. Researchers at the Urban Institute found that 103,475 nonprofits received $267 billion in government grants in 2021, according to an analysis of nonprofit tax forms.
Relevant For: Any nonprofit receiving federal funding
Some Good News:
We want to hear your good news!
If you have some good news or overall goodness to share, we want to hear it! Your good news submission can be large or teeny tiny, something that has taken place in your community, or something you've done or experienced over the past month that exemplifies goodness.
We will choose a few submissions to include in the upcoming 'Good News' section of Purpose Possible's Government Affairs Digest to amplify goodness.
Resources:
The First 100 Days & Beyond: What Nonprofits Need To Know - Purpose Possible Webinar
The first 100 days of the new administration have brought major shifts affecting every corner of the nonprofit sector. From executive orders to staff cuts and agency closures, nonprofit leaders are navigating a rapidly changing landscape with limited guidance and increasing urgency.
Join Purpose Possible for a strategic briefing that breaks down what’s happened, what’s coming, and what your organization can do now. Drawing from the latest Government Affairs Digests and key policy updates, this session will explore the impact on nonprofits and offer practical tools, insights, and recommendations for staying resilient and mission-focused in uncertain times.
Special Guests: Delegate Jheannelle Wilkins, Maryland House of Delegates District 20 and Senator Josh McLaurin, Georgia State Senate District 14.
Justice Funders Member Meeting - Thursday, April 24 at 5pm EST
“We Must Be the Ancestors Our Future Needs: Organizing For Regeneration and Liberation Under Rising Authoritarianism” This meeting will build our collective understanding of and alignment around what is needed of philanthropy in this moment.
Further Reading:
