Trump’s War on Democracy is an Emergency and Funders Must Respond Accordingly

During the COVID-19 pandemic, foundations increased their giving to as much as 10% — up from the 5% minimum they must distribute each year — to meet the extraordinary demands of the moment and ensure nonprofits, communities, and individuals had the resources to meet the extraordinary demands of the time.

Just five years later, we are facing another national crisis. Trump 2.0 is an imminent threat to American democracy, and foundations must respond as though the lives of nonprofits and the fate of our constitution depends on it. Because both do. Foundations who purport to care about democracy, civil society, social justice, racial justice, LGBTQIA+ and immigrant rights, the environment, public health, international relations, and more need to act with the same urgency they did during COVID and give liberally to meet the moment.

Nonprofits have always filled some part of public need and civil society that government has left with a gap.  It’s not easy, but they’ve struggled to be there whether in direct service, like food banks and medical clinics, or holding our democracy accountable and upholding the constitution. At a time when the government is turning the “gap” between the need and funding into a cavernous chasm, nonprofits will be pressed as never before — and foundations may be the only means available for them to survive such a stress test.

Foundations must step up their giving in response. They must not be satisfied to (and we must demand that they not) stick to the 5% floor of spending annually that their IRS status mandates. If they mean what their mission statements say, they simply must step up. There is no more important time. Trump 2.0 is causing daily chaos and uncertainty, defunding crucial public services and cutting investments in our future — all while decimating our democracy. Just like we urge Democrats to step up and fight back with more than “thoughts and prayers,” we must count on our foundations to step up their funding in meaningful ways. Some suggestions include:

• Provide multi-year unrestricted dollars to nonprofit organizations to increase their ability to keep their staff employed and possibly hire additional staff (think brilliant government employees being laid off), allowing them to expand their reach and deepen their impact. Whether these extra funds help organizations serve more meals, replace government funding with private funding to operate their programs, finish construction of a park, or whatever it may be, nonprofits will be struggling to keep up. This will also provide some measure of stability to nonprofits whose government grants are in jeopardy so that they can still carry out their missions and provide the critical life-saving services on which so many rely.

• Collaborate with the field to seed a legal defense fund to support nonprofit organizations that come under increased scrutiny and/or political attack from the nefarious intentions of the administration. Nonprofits will likely be subjected to questions about their compliance with IRS regulations and possibly subjected to criminal and congressional investigations. They must have the resources and representation to defend themselves.

• Invest in nonprofits providing solutions to the most pressing matters of the day that are being neglected or regressed under the Trump administration. These might include climate change, economic insecurity, international humanitarian aid, and more, as organizations step up their efforts to close the gap between what the government should be doing but isn’t. This could include providing private funding for land purchase or conservation or providing vaccines to vulnerable populations through private financing. Foundations can support nonprofits to expand their reach and do more at a time when it’s so critically necessary.

• Invest in nonprofits that are securing our democracy and mounting legal challenges to the worst of Trump 2.0’s abuses. Examples might include MALDEF mounting legal challenges that threaten DACA and other immigrant protections or Lambda Legal and NCLR suing over the Trump administration’s hatefully regressive anti-trans executive orders.  We must be prepared to fight to the teeth for our rights and protections — not just to expand them, but to defend against their loss. Nonprofits engaged in this sort of litigation will need to be resourced for long fights, especially given they will largely be fighting cases that won’t include financial payouts even when they win.

• Support nonprofits who may have not before but must now engage in advocacy because the crisis demands it. A staffer at a Minnesota organization that advocates against homelessness recently attended a Bolder Advocacy training on how public charities can lobby and shared how their work is changing. “The nonprofit I work for, Simpson Housing Initiative, is increasing our advocacy work,” they shared. After a Trump executive order froze federal grants they depend on, they recognized the need to broaden their reach just to attain the same goals as before.

• Simplify grant applications and reporting requirements to reduce the burden on nonprofits and making it easy to provide the funding so desperately needed. The less time and energy these organizations spend on grant management, the more they can focus on their primary missions.

• Provide convening space for nonprofits to be in community, support one another, and collaborate on solutions. Further, convene nonprofits and experts around responses required in this moment, such as how to appropriately respond to digital threats, physical safety and security concerns, legal challenges, and more.

In short, Trump and his enablers are a plague that must be stopped. Just as foundations stepped up in 2020 to support everything from housing to vaccinations to helping organizations keep staff and expand their services/adapt to provide their services, funders must once more step into the breach. Our lives, our democracy, and our future depend upon it.

Emily Harting is the director of foundation relations at Alliance for Justice.