Nonprofit Leadership

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** “Left-Wing Organized Crime”
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November 4, 2025

Dear Readers,

Last week, a GOP-led subcommittee of the Senate Judiciary Committee held a hearing entitled “Politically Violent Attacks: A Threat to Our Constitutional Order.”

Going from the name alone, one might be inclined to agree: Political violence is a threat to our constitutional order. Only, the main purpose of this hearing was to give the floor to right-wing politicians and representatives of right-wing organizations pushing the lie that it is the political Left, and not the Right, that is the locus of most political violence in the United States.

Multiple studies, including one conducted by the US Justice Department and recently deleted from that agency’s website ([link removed]) , conclude that by far the gravest threats of political and ideological violence in this country come from White supremacist and other right-wing extremist groups.

But that inconvenient truth is not stopping the political Right from pushing an agenda of targeting progressive nonprofits and branding them, falsely, as supporters of terror and violence and “left-wing organized crime,” as hearing witness and right-wing pundit Michael Knowles put it.

Decrying the Left as a network of “open-border radicals…anticapitalist communists…and jihadists,” Senator Ted Cruz of Texas has cosponsored a law he calls the “Stop Funders Act,” which seeks to allow law enforcement authorities to pursue RICO (racketeering) charges against organizations that fund or support “rioting,” conveniently defined broadly enough to likely include peaceful protests and expressions of speech the Right finds distasteful.

To say such actions echo McCarthyism is, at this point, an understatement.

This week’s Leadership newsletter opens with what you need to know about that troubling Senate hearing, and then offers some more hopeful stories about how our beleaguered sector continues to fight for a better country.

As always, we love to hear from you. Email Leadership Editor Isaiah Thompson at [email protected] (mailto:[email protected]) .


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** Must-Read Articles
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Senate GOP Ramps Up Attacks on Left-Wing Nonprofits

by Isaiah Thompson

As the Trump administration eliminates violence prevention programs and deletes inconvenient research, Republican senators lay the groundwork for targeting progressive organizations through terrorism designations and RICO prosecutions.
Read Article ([link removed])
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Staying and Fighting: A Conversation with Shirley Sherrod

by Rebekah Barber and Dr. Shirley Sherrod

From Jim Crow to contemporary struggles, civil rights activist Shirley Sherrod has seen a lot. Here, she shares what she has learned from past struggles that might inform activists today.
Read Article ([link removed])
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Why the Struggle for a Third Reconstruction Remains the Struggle for Our Times

by Peniel Joseph

“A Third Reconstruction unapologetically embraces justice as the beating heart of an expansive multiracial democracy.”
Read Article ([link removed])
[link removed]

An Indigenous Nonprofit Responds to Budget Cuts with a New Strategic Vision

by Steve Dubb

While funding cuts to nonprofits get widespread attention, similar cuts in Indigenous nonprofits have received less coverage, and have required strategic readjustment.
Read Article ([link removed])
[link removed]

School Drop-off and Pickup in the Age of ICE

by Alison Stine

“This, for children, creates a sense that nowhere and no one is safe.”
Read Article ([link removed])

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Nonprofit Leadership offers timely civic news, equity-centered insights, and innovative frameworks for leaders building a just and thriving civil society. This newsletter delivers field wisdom, leadership strategies, and practical tools to help you lead with intention and create sustainable impact in your organization and community.

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