Federal policies and budget cuts under the Trump Administration have hiked demand on the state’s nonprofits, while simultaneously hurting their financial footing, according to a survey released today.
The Boston Foundation and MassINC Polling Group said that of the nearly 500 nonprofit leaders and employees surveyed in January, two-thirds reported rising demands for their services in the last year, especially from unhoused people, domestic violence survivors, veterans and recently incarcerated individuals.
Funding is a real challenge now, the survey found. More than a quarter of nonprofits reported dipping into reserves or endowments.
“There’s a real cost pressure going on right now with nonprofits,” Richard Parr, MassINC’s research director, said Thursday at The Boston Foundation. “Some of them are thinking about mergers, some of them were thinking about closing down branches or locations.
A climate of fear and intimidation under Trump is taking a toll on nonprofits’ staff and the communities they serve, said Tuyet Tran, executive director of the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts in Worcester, which helps immigrants and refugees.
The coalition reduced English class offering because people have been too afraid to come to them, she said.
“Two (classes) were at night, and we went from 20 people to two,” Tran said during a panel discussion Thursday at The Boston Foundation. “Safety is real. Even though the bus is free, people are afraid to stand outside and get attacked.”
Natanja Craig Oquendo, the CEO of Boston Women’s Fund, said nonprofits that work with minorities and the LGBTQ community are facing more hardships.
“Those organizations are seeing an increased impact, an increased psychological effect, and the chilling effect of seeing that nonprofits are being investigated, that funding is being pulled for these critical services,” said Oquendo, another panelist.
Kara Young Ponder, a vice president at the National Council of Nonprofits, said a huge majority of Republicans nationally believe nonprofits should be investigated and even defunded.
“We are in a very different position than we were five or 10 years ago when the case for nonprofits being champions for the public good is now in question,” she said.
Immigration arrests, along with cuts to food assistance and health care, have spread fear and uncertainty among the populations served by many nonprofits in the state, the survey also found.
The survey backs up what some nonprofits have reported in recent months, both in Massachusetts, at organizations including Project Bread, and nationwide.
One nonprofit that helps supply diapers to low-income families told MassINC that “clients are afraid to come to pickups because of ICE.”
Nearly three-quarters of the nonprofits surveyed said that cuts to nutrition benefits had the most major negative impact on communities. Federal immigration enforcement and cuts to health insurance benefits also ranked highest on the list of negative impacts just over a year into the Trump Administration, the survey found.
While just under 40% of the nonprofits said they have been forced to cut back on services and programming, the survey also pointed to areas where organizations have increased efforts: broadening geographic reach; offering fuel and food assistance; and training on constitutional rights in the face of ratcheted up presence of federal immigration officers.
