** UPDATE January 29, 2:30 pm **
The memo freezing all federal grants and loans has been rescinded. GCN will continue to be a source of information and action steps for navigating this quickly-moving situation. Look to us for more detailed updates soon.
Since January 20th, the Trump administration has issued a number of executive orders, many with the potential to affect nonprofits. This is especially true of the order pausing federal funds across the government, which has caused mass confusion and outrage.
Thankfully, a flurry of lawsuits provided a reprieve until Monday, February 3rd, by order of a federal judge. In this critical moment, it is imperative that the sector raises its voice in support of continued federal funding.
What to do right now
We urge you to contact your congressional representatives as soon as possible. You can find their contact information here. Be sure to convey the impact that the loss of nonprofit services would mean locally. In addition, note the impact on your organization in terms of both financial shortages and increase in community demand. For your convenience, we’ve crafted a short script, ready for you to customize, which you can find below.
We are entering unprecedented times that demand our collective action. Your voice is important. Please join us in working to ensure our sector’s impact on local communities is recognized and preserved.
GCN is here to help
The Georgia Center for Nonprofits is committed to serving as a source for information and action to assist Georgia’s nonprofit sector in navigating these fast-moving changes as they emerge. We are taking a number of active steps, including speaking with our elected officials, informing the press of the impact on our sector, gathering data on the potential scale of local impacts, and organizing resources.
We’ll be reaching out to share those resources soon, along with updates and additional opportunities to act.
In the meantime, you may refer to this FAQ document about the funding pause produced by the Office of Management and Budget as well as the associated instructions for funding agencies.
Sample script for contacting your representatives
To [representative name]:
As the [TITLE] of [ORG NAME], I am writing to express my opposition to the White House’s executive orders that put vital nonprofit services in jeopardy, in particular the order suspending federal grant and loan disbursements. As you likely know, many of the nonprofits that our communities depend on rely on federal funding.
Georgia’s nonprofit sector is the 5th largest employment sector in Georgia. In many communities, local nonprofits comprise a large percentage of the workforce: Consider nonprofits such as hospitals and senior centers, which frequently serve as the largest employers locally.
The work of our organization, [ORG NAME], is vital to the residents of our community in the following ways:
[LIST HERE]
I am concerned that the recent executive orders from the Trump administration are a threat to these services, and will cause harm to our local economy and workforce. As our representative, elected to protect the interests of our local community and our state, I urge you to consider these facts and advocate for the preservation of appropriated funding and a more orderly form of governance from the administration.