The philanthropy sector has been active and alive amidst the political turmoil that started at the beginning of this year. Annual government funding for nonprofits accounted for approximately $303 billion in 2022 and 2023. Now, amid drastic cuts made to federal funding, Candid calculates that private foundations would need to increase investments by 282%. On average, 30% of nonprofits rely on government grants, and in states such as Vermont, Alaska, and West Virginia, 44-47% of nonprofits receive government funding. As written eloquently in this piece in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, private foundations cannot fill the vast and far-reaching shoes of the government. So where is the good news that you were promised, you may ask?
Funders are stepping up to the plate to address the critical gap that the government has left. The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation announced that it will increase giving from 5% of its endowment to at least 6% over the next two years, which is equivalent to a $150 million increase. The Freedom Together Foundation is also responding to the funding cuts by doubling its grant payout to 10% or more of its endowment. Foundation leaders have also spoken up and spoken out amid these changes, including the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the W.K. Kellog Foundation.
Many other foundations and philanthropists are mobilizing to address specific issue areas and the impacts of federal funding cuts.
#1: The Knight Foundation made a historic investment in a time of crackdowns against the press
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation announced a $25 million investment in the American Journalism Project, a philanthropy venture dedicated to financing and sustaining local news. The new investment will be used to support the growth of 60 nonprofit news organizations and to launch the Knight Resiliency Lab, which is designed to strengthen the financial and operational resilience of nonprofit newsrooms. There is intensified legal and political pressure on large news networks, and smaller local news organizations are all the more vulnerable.
The local news industry has already faced major financial challenges with dips in revenue over the last decade, and over the past two decades, approximately 30% of local U.S. newspapers have closed shop. The investment by the Knight Foundation is much needed to preserve local reporting in these critical times.
#2: Philanthropists are stepping up to address gaps in climate funding
Bloomberg Philanthropies announced that it, along with other anonymous funders, would take on the U.S.’s funding and reporting requirements for the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which provides global policies, research, and negotiations aimed at addressing climate change. With the U.S.’s withdrawal from the Paris Agreement, the UNFCC is losing approximately of its core budget, which is approximately $7 million. This is not the first time that Michael Bloomberg has invested heavily in the UNFCC – in 2024, Bloomberg Philanthropies was the largest non-state funder of UNFCC with a $4.5 million contribution.
Additionally, Mission 300 recently secured $50 billion in commitments to accelerate action on sustainable energy growth in Africa. Amongst those pledgers include organizations such as the Rockefeller Foundation, announcing $15.9 million towards the African Development Bank Group and the World Bank Group.
#3: Celebrating funding and partnerships in the face of funding cuts to medical and scientific research
The federal funding cuts to medical research will have vast impacts, one of which is the ability to conduct clinical research across the country. At the time of this writing, a federal judge blocked the funding cut, but many donors continue to mobilize to fund medical research institutions and initiatives.
In February, Penn Medicine announced it had received a ‘transformational gift’ from Catherine and Anthony Clifton. The donation is estimated to be between $100 -$120 million and is cited to be the largest gift made to an inpatient hospital building.
Other impactful gifts have been made to medical facilities across the U.S. The University of California-Irvine also announced that the Clemons Family Foundation committed $11 million to cancer research and cancer-related facilities at UCI Health, a health complex on its campus. A $35 million grant from the Paul J. DiMare Foundation was gifted to the UMass Chan Medical School’s endowment to advance research of neurodegenerative and genetic diseases.
Private partnerships are also bolstering medical research, such as the partnership between NVIDIA and Arc Institute. The Arc Institute, a nonprofit research organization, is collaborating with NVIDIA to accelerate biomedical research by partnering their biology researchers with NVIDIA’s computing prowess.
Don’t look away
My newsfeed is overwhelmed by updates that incite hopelessness. I am privileged that this is one of the main ways that I feel directly impacted. So, it is easy for me to say this as a writer behind a screen, but I tell myself that turning away now, from the news and from the injustices occurring around the country and the world, is not going to help anyone. I see despair and demoralization as a tactic by leadership to break people down and strip them of the energy to act. In the midst of uncertainty, I celebrate these triumphs in the philanthropic sector and amplify the work that philanthropists, foundations, and community leaders are doing.
