Last Updated: July 29, 2025

How is our sector navigating the current landscape to best support the communities we serve? What resources are the public and nonprofit sectors using to cut through the noise?

Our staff is continuing to curate resources most relevant to our network.

Moving More Money

As federal funding freezes disrupt nonprofit operations, funders are taking swift action to move more money to their communities.

How can you talk to your board about increasing your payout?

• Educate your board members on what our communities are grappling with:
  • Use data-driven tools like the Urban Institute's data visualization tool, The Impact Project's Impact Map and Casey Family Programs' Community Opportunity Map to share state and county-specific stories and numbers with your board.
  • In the face of federal funding cuts, Candid has also made a suite of data tools and resources publicly available, covering information including total grants received by nonprofits and how long nonprofits can survive without government grants.
  • Share calls to action from our communities like this post by the NDN Collective, an Indigenous-led organization dedicated to building Indigenous power, and this open letter to funders from Business Impact NW, a nonprofit Community Development Financial Institution serving underbanked entrepreneurs across Alaska, Idaho, Oregon and Washington.
     
• Share examples of peer funders who are moving money and invite them to speak at your next board meeting:
  • Philanthropy Northwest member Northwest Area Foundation announced in March that they are doubling their giving in 2025.
  • Chicago-based MacArthur Foundation increased their payout from 5% to 6%.
  • Seattle-based Marguerite Casey Foundation increased giving to $130M – two to five times their annual giving since 2019

  • Gates Foundation announced it is doubling spending in the next 20 years and sunsetting in 2045

     

Flexible, Unrestricted Funding

Trust-based practices help nonprofit grantee partners deepen their impact without the burdens of lengthy reporting requirements and restrictions set by funders.

Join the many Philanthropy Northwest members like Headwaters Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation, Renton Regional Community Foundation, Washington Women’s Foundation and many more who have incorporated trust-based practices into their operations and cultures.

• Visit the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project’s site to learn more about trust-based philanthropy and how to get started.
• For those committed to move in solidarity with community, mobilize money and nurture possibility and innovation, join us in signing the Trust-Based Philanthropy Project’s public commitment.
• If you’re looking for consulting support along your trust-based journey, our TGP Senior Advisors are here to help. Reach out to our TGP team to learn more.

Advocating for Our Communities

Advocacy tends to be an overlooked and underutilized tool for philanthropy. More than ever, now is the time to step up and use our voices to address how policies are impacting our sector and communities.

What advocacy activities are permissible as a 501c3?

• Our network regularly refers to Alliance for Justice’s advocacy playbook for guidance on permissible activities.(See the green-yellow-red guidelines on page 14 (page 20 of the PDF file)). 

How can we use our voice?

• Find your Members of Congress and advocate for legislation that protects our sector and communities.
  • Learn more about what the passage of "The One, Big Beautiful Bill Act" (H.R. 1) means for the charitable sector in our action alert.
• Elevate stories of what your communities are experiencing on the ground to lawmakers. Visit the National Council of Nonprofits' Story Bank for nonprofit story submissions and Philanthropy Northwest’s Story Bank for funder stories.
• Use this opportunity to reaffirm your values. As of February 10, 2025, 24% of survey respondents shared they were doubling down on their missions according to ComNet’s Pulse Poll. Join the growing cohort of funders staying loud about their commitments. Some examples below:
  • Robert Wood Johnson Foundation | Re-Affirming Our Shared Vision: A Message from Richard Besser, MD RWJF President and CEO
  • Archstone | Standing Firm in Our Commitment to Justice, Equity and Inclusion
  • Freedom Together Fund | Courage is Contagious
• Sign on to the United in Advance solidarity campaign to support philanthropy's freedom to give. 

Sensemaking Together with Your Community

An evolving legal landscape coupled with media headlines continue to generate uncertainty and fear around what is “safe” or “risky” as it pertains to advancing our commitments to equity and racial justice. The following resources help cut through the noise and get to the facts:

• The Meltzer Center for Diversity, Inclusion and Belonging has put together a DEI litigation tracker along with a curated list of resources and explainers to unpack legal cases and their implications.
• The Racial Equity Advancement and Defense Initiative hosts a robust resource bank developed by a partnership between ABFE, Asian Americans / Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), Native Americans in Philanthropy (NAP), and Hispanics in Philanthropy (HIP) to help funders advance race-explicit grantmaking amid the political and legal landscapes. The resource bank includes guidelines for actions that funders can take today.
• The National Council of Nonprofits has synthesized and centralized resources for nonprofits to understand the impacts of the recent executive orders on nonprofits including a chart of executive orders and checklist for what to do when federal grants are terminated.
• Philanthropy Northwest is continuing to host expert panels in our network calls to support collective sensemaking. Subscribe to our FOMO Antidote newsletter to be notified of our latest events and find additional resources. 

What other resources have you found most helpful? Let us know by email to help keep our list up to date.