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AP

Hello, 

This week we check in on efforts by the Trump administration to make nonprofits swear off of DEI efforts and see if the annual charity drive for federal workers still has a pulse.

— Alex Daniels, Senior Editor, Foundations

Trump Administration Holds Nonprofits' Feet to the Fire Over Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Practices

All nonprofits that receive federal support could soon be required to certify that they adhere to the anti-DEI executive order President Trump signed during his first week in office. The General Services Administration, the federal agency that oversees how grants are distributed, announced the change in January, but it won’t take effect right away.

“The proposed changes are vague and complex, making it nearly impossible for nonprofits to know whether they are in compliance,” the National Council of Nonprofits said in a statement. “Moreover, it exposes nonprofits to potential legal harassment by the administration, which has previously accused nonprofits of wrongdoing without evidence.”

Under the proposed changes, federal grantees would have to certify that they don’t adhere to diversity statements, provide race-based scholarships or training sessions, or make programs eligible to people of a specific race.

The certification also would forbid proxies for race, such as a person’s experience, “cultural competence,” or narratives about “overcoming obstacles,” at a time when many foundations are substituting those characteristics for references to race in their grant applications and program descriptions. 

The move by the GSA comes after a court rejected the Trump administration’s efforts to require nonprofits to certify they don’t participate in DEI efforts.  

The proposed change brings the issue into the regulatory sphere. Nonprofits and other organizations can comment on the impact of the proposed changes through the end of the month. The National Council of Nonprofits has provided information on how to do so.

If the changes aren’t blocked, the council said, “nonprofits wrongfully accused would have to spend significant staff time and resources defending themselves in audits, investigations, and court.”

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Federal Employee Charitable Campaign May Be Shuttering

Amid a long-running debate over the future of the Combined Federal Campaign, the Trump administration appears to have canceled — or at least paused — the six-decade-old effort to collect charitable gifts from federal workers.

In late February, the more than 4,500 charities that solicit donations in the campaign were notified that the CFC portal was being shut down on March 4. Nonprofits use the portal to apply to participate in the program and, once accepted, to track donations from federal workers.

Charity leaders see the campaign as an easy way to tap into millions of potential donors.

 “When you knock on the door of a military base, a VA hospital, or a postal facility, you’re reaching all the employees behind that door,” Anthony DeCristofaro, the campaign’s former deputy director told the Chronicle. “It’s a very efficient way of raising money.”

As of Thursday afternoon the portal was still up. But last fall Scott Kupor, the director of the Office of Personnel Management, wrote in a blog post that the campaign might end up on the chopping block. Kupor said he was concerned about the overhead costs to run the campaign, paid for by participating charities. He said the administration fees were about 33 percent of the campaign’s overall take.

“Donors expect their dollars to benefit the very causes they intend to support and not to lose the effectiveness of their donations because of excessive administrative costs,” Kupor wrote.

In 2024, the CFC attracted $68 million in gifts from federal workers, down from its 2009 peak of $282 million. Results for last year’s campaign haven’t been tabulated, but charity experts expect it to be about $40 million, a much lower tally largely as a result of the downsizing of the federal work force during Trump’s first year in office and the government shutdown last fall.

Kupor’s office did not respond to requests for comment.

Charity officials say they’ve been kept out of the loop on possible changes to the campaign — and its possible termination — altogether.

 “We’ve always had an open door with the director of OPM,” said Rosie Allen-Herring, interim director of United Way Worldwide. “What we’ve had in the last couple of months have just been executive mandates.” 

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