Dear John,

You’ve heard me talk a lot about Trump’s Big Ugly Bill and its massive cuts to Medicaid to fund huge tax breaks for billionaires. There are at least 100 reasons for the Senate to reject this bill completely and start over.

But I also want to point out that buried in the bill are provisions that will do real harm to nonprofits: gutting nonprofit funding, penalizing organizations for helping their employees, and tightening the screws on groups that serve as a lifeline for millions of Americans.

This isn’t an accident. It’s part of a calculated agenda to silence the institutions that support working families, defend civil rights, and hold the powerful accountable – all while giving billionaires and corporations another windfall.

Here are a few of the ways the bill targets the nonprofit sector:

• Slaps a new 1.4% excise tax on private foundation investment income – diverting money away from grants, scholarships, and public services.

• Taxes critical employee benefits like transit passes and parking, forcing nonprofits to either penalize workers or cut community programs.

• Chokes off donor-advised funds with confusing new restrictions, threatening to drastically shrink charitable giving.

If this bill becomes law, the damage will be deep and long-lasting. On top of everything else, food banks, health clinics, domestic violence shelters, and legal aid groups could see critical funding dry up – at the very moment communities will need their services most.

We must make it clear that everything in this bill is bad – piece by piece, one by one. The more Senate Republicans see the whole bill as toxic, the more likely we force them to improve it or scrap it altogether and start over. Sign and send your message demanding Senators protect the nonprofits that serve our communities now.

Make no mistake: this is about consolidating power at the top. Nonprofits often speak up for the voiceless and challenge injustice, which makes them a serious threat to the Trump-aligned majority driving this bill.

Weakening them isn’t a side effect. It’s the goal.

The Senate is preparing its version of the bill now. We have a narrow window to act. Thousands of nonprofit leaders have already raised the alarm – now it’s time for us to speak out and join them.

Tell the Senate: Hands off nonprofits! We won’t sit back while you dismantle the social safety net to boost the billionaire class.

Thank you for making your voice heard in defense of the organizations that put people over profits every day.

Robert Reich
Inequality Media Civic Action