Guest Blog: Federal Funding Cuts Affect Us All
This is a repost from my fellow grant writer, Lukas Schroeder, GPC. I asked his permission to share because it illustrates the importance of federal funding for nonprofits and municipalities and provides nonpartisan guidance on how we can all respond:
Friends, I tend to reserve my political discussions for IRL where I find them much more productive, but please humor this (nonpartisan) message as my career — and the careers of many of the 12.8m Americans employed in the nonprofit sector, 22.4m employed by federal, state, and local governments, and countless others like myself adjacent to these sectors — have descended into intentionally created turmoil over the last few weeks. The uncertainty over the future of our jobs is certainly not the worst part. We chose this work because of the impact it creates, and it is this ceasing of this impact that causes my greatest worry for the future.
So what can we do? I hope you will take two minutes to read my plea and then call your congresspeople to voice your concern. Both of these things can be accomplished from where you are sitting, and in a nonpartisan manner. We need Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and everyone else sounding the alarms.
An estimated 35,000 nonprofits in the US rely on government grants for the majority of their revenue. This includes nearly 40% of nonprofit human services providers in the country. Grant professionals know that the federal government holds its agencies and their nonprofit grantees to the highest standard when it comes to contract compliance, risk mitigation, cost monitoring, and so much more, all in the name of reducing fraud and corruption. These grants are highly competitive and only fund programs that can prove the most effectiveness and efficiency from a large pool of applicants.
The collateral damage from the rapid, broad shutdowns, delays, and cuts in federal programs could easily shutter many nonprofits with common sense missions such as supporting our farmers, providing shelter to victims of domestic violence, and protecting the public from counterfeit goods in the health sector. These are all real examples of federal programs that are currently paused or shut down from executive action.
With the executive branch openly advertising the inability of the courts to enforce their injunctions, it's time for congress to act. Every call to your senators and representative is logged by issue and position and summarized for the congresspeople so they can understand the concerns of their constituents. Your call doesn’t need to be eloquent or longwinded — note your name and where you are from, and your opposition to the hasty, indiscriminate cuts to federal programs. It takes a few minutes, and as much as my fellow Millennials hate phone calls, it is logged much faster than emails or letters.
We know Democrats want to move on this issue, and it seems that Republican congresspeople are catching on. It’s not a secret in our industry that many of these cuts will hit rural states and areas — like the one I live in — much harder than urban centers with the economic ecosystems to at least attempt to replace these federal dollars. Senator Jerry Moran has voiced concerns about farmers in Kansas after USAID’s overnight shuttering could leave America’s agricultural exports spoiling in their warehouses. Senators Katie Britt, Susan Collins, and Billy Cassidy have voiced concerns about research cuts in their states. The voices of their constituents will only amplify this concern.
The Grant Professionals Association has published example language for calls to elected officials (“Click here to download GPA Advocacy Messaging”), should you like to take some nonpartisan language from a leading organization that represents over 4,500 grant professionals and advocates for the public benefits of grant funding. Congresspeople need to hear from us regardless of their party. Thank you for your consideration.
