October 28, 2025
Dear Readers,
The bleeding continues. As the government shutdown drags on, the Trump administration is using the emergency to attempt to permanently shut down “Democrat programs,” as the president put it himself last week:
We’re not closing up Republican programs, because we think they work, so the Democrats are getting killed. We are closing up Democrat programs that we disagree with, and they’re never going to open again.
While Trump was apparently referring to government programs, make no mistake: Such “closures” will deeply affect untold numbers of nonprofits that administer these programs, from organizations providing food and nutrition to nonprofit health clinics to medical research and disease prevention programs.
As the National Council of Nonprofits has reported, the shutdown has profound consequences for the American nonprofit sector. As the NCN’s Diane Yentel recently noted:
Nonprofits are already facing enormous financial and political challenges, as the Administration has sought to freeze federal funding, terminate contracts, and otherwise withhold grant funds. A shutdown further undermines their ability to serve, and the longer it lasts, the more severe the harm to people and communities.
The situation is, of course, complex. The shutdown is partly the consequence of congressional Democrats refusing to agree to budget measures that would also hurt countless Americans and our sector.
But if anyone needed a reminder of the degree to which the private nonprofit sector in fact carries out much of the work of “government,” the shutdown is instructive.
This week’s Leadership newsletter offers a range of insights from our essential field. As always, we love to hear back from you. Contact Leadership Editor Isaiah Thompson at [email protected].
Isaiah Thompson
Leadership Editor
