When the nonprofit sector is weathering a storm, it can feel like everyone is stuck in their own boats bailing water by themselves. There’s no time or space to stop and share notes or strategize together. But that’s what organizations need—the ability to lean on others who are dealing with the same challenges. In moments like this, peers can be a lifeline.
Photo credit: BFRESH Productions
That’s why I reached out to Eleanor Savage at the Jerome Foundation. The Foundation supports early-career artists and culture bearers, with grant programs across Minnesota and the five boroughs of New York City. They have been proactive about shaping their strategies and practices to address the current uncertainty in the nonprofit and arts communities.
What Eleanor and her team have found is that to truly strengthen nonprofits and communities, funders need to see themselves as more than funders. They need to see themselves as partners who can fill gaps in resources, tap into bigger networks, and help address all the risks nonprofits face.
Funders of all kinds can look to the Jerome Foundation for a playbook they can build on in their own work.
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Balance urgency with long-term planning
The urgency and scale of what communities need right now poses a risk to some organizations’ long-term resilience. If funders spend down their resources in the short-term, they might jeopardize their ability to stay in the work well into the future. If they hold resources back too much right now, they can put communities at risk. Funders have to be intentional about defining and striking the right balance.
The funding conundrum
For a lot of nonprofits, federal funds are evaporating. Though the initial freeze of grant funding has been rescinded, a lot of organizations still don’t have the funding they planned on. It’s not a wholly unfamiliar scenario; Eleanor sees a lot of similarities between the COVID pandemic and today’s sudden pullback of funding. In both cases, the work people depended on suddenly disappeared.
Because federal grants are often awarded through reimbursement, many organizations have already spent the grant money. This is resulting in immediate budget shortfalls. You can see this play out on a large scale with the Illinois program designed to help farms and supply fresh food to area food banks. The USDA approved the program in 2022, but the state stopped receiving reimbursements in January 2025. With a $17.8 million hole in their budget, they’ve put the program on indefinite hold.
Funders can step in as nonprofits and communities face these sudden resource gaps. But they’re confronting some tough economic realities as well. With the stock market fluctuating and unpredictable, funders have to plan for a wider range of economic possibilities as they manage their portfolios
How the Jerome Foundation strikes the right balance
In response to the budgetary pressures, Eleanor and her team have adopted a new ethos of flexibility. “Our definition of flexibility around what it means to be adaptable has expanded radically,” Eleanor says.
The Jerome Foundation is expediting payments to help grantees facing sudden shortfalls. They’re also simplifying the application process. Eleanor encourages funders to consider how they can lessen the workload on community organizations.
How do we just take that admin burden off of nonprofit organizations because of the whole suitcase full of things that they’re dealing with right now?
“How do we just take that admin burden off of nonprofit organizations because of the whole suitcase full of things that they’re dealing with right now?” she asks.
The Jerome Foundation operates from a place of trust in their work with grantees. “We want to build trusting relationships, we want to listen. We want to understand where people are coming from and how we can support them,” Eleanor says. These relationships help the Foundation show up for their community in the right ways.
Right now the Jerome Foundation is managing their portfolio with an eye on both the short- and long-term future of their budget. They’re careful to balance the funding they’re already committed to with discretionary spending. They also want to provide grantees some long-term stability; that’s why the Foundation offers multi-year funding. “We’re a multi-year funder. So, all of our grants have an impact over not just this year but the next year and the next year and the next year,” Eleanor says.
How to work toward financial stability
Nonprofits need stability, and funders can help provide that by:
- Expediting approved payments
- Honoring existing commitments before launching new programs
- Increasing funding if possible and offering multi-year funding
- Preparing for market volatility by creating long-term financial plans that play out a range of economic scenarios
Focus on collective impact
The nonprofit sector is facing conditions that funders cannot solve for alone. Funders, nonprofits, and community members need to work together toward a shared vision. Funders are in a unique position to create the right conditions for authentic collaboration.
A fractured landscape
With deep cuts in federal grants, the hard reality is that many nonprofits don’t have resources to meet community needs. For instance, food banks around the country are facing sudden funding pullbacks as demand increases.
As funders look to fill these gaps, there’s a big opportunity to better support community organizations. Historically, funding has been concentrated among a small percentage of nonprofits. David Beckman sheds light on this imbalance in his recent article: “By one estimate there are 30,000 environmental nonprofits in the United States, but, in 2021, just 204 nonprofits received 50 percent of the $2.3 billion donated by members of the Environmental Grantmakers Association,” he writes. Funders can step up to make sure all nonprofits get the support they need.
When it comes to deciding how grant dollars are disbursed, affected communities often aren’t included in the decision-making process. A recent report on large foundations revealed that only about 10% of foundations allow grantees or community members most affected by the foundation’s funding to decide how grant funds should be allocated. Funders can look for opportunities to consult community members throughout the decision-making process.
Nonprofits need more funding as they face mounting challenges. They need support like legal assistance and advocacy. Funders can partner with each other to provide more holistic support.
Funders can help nonprofits by closing the gaps in relationships and services. It starts with collective action.
How the Jerome Foundation drives collective action
The first step to creating collective impact is finding alignment with other organizations. Eleanor and her team are actively reaching out to other funders to find opportunities to partner and mutually support initiatives.
Part of that alignment process is identifying each funder’s niche. Eleanor explains what this looks like for the Jerome Foundation: “There are funders who are joining the pooled fund for emergency grants to artists. Some funders are interested in providing legal support to organizations, others want to dig into data security work, and others want to do narrative change work.” The key is determining how the funders’ different niches fit together.
As the Foundation aligns with other funders, they’re creating pooled funding opportunities, as well as sharing resources. “We’re working on pooled funding opportunities, especially around emergency funding; collective strategies with funders, artists, and arts organizations; and information and resource sharing,” she says.
To ensure they’re directing funds to the communities that need them most, the Jerome Foundation is taking steps to identify which communities and organizations are the most vulnerable right now. This includes organizations that are most reliant on federal funds and communities facing policy and legal threats.
“We support transgender artists, immigrant communities,” Eleanor says. We support immigrant artists. We support organizations that support trans and immigrant artists. We support organizations and artists that identify as LGBTQ. We support BIPOC artists across many, you know, dozens if not hundreds of different communities.”
Relationships are the driving force behind collective impact. “We intentionally want to be guided by the relationships with the communities we serve. And grantmaking is not transactional, it’s relational for us,” Eleanor says. They treat relationship building as a daily practice.
One aspect of that daily practice is folding community members into the Foundation’s decision-making processes.
I think equity and justice start with who makes the decisions.
“I think equity and justice start with who makes the decisions. And so if the people that we are granting to are included in the design of the grant, the grant structures and are part of the panel review process for making the decisions, then we start building something that actually does serve the community,” she says.
How to create a collective impact
Collective action requires true partnerships. Funders can build strong relationships by:
- Finding opportunities to pool funding
- Sharing information and resources with other organizations
- Defining who is most vulnerable to federal funding cuts and policy changes
- Investing in relationships
How can foundations support nonprofits in 2025?
Read our interview with Tim Sarrantonio, director of corporate brand at Neon One and chair of the Fundraising Effectiveness Project, on the reality of what nonprofits are facing in 2025.
Become an advocate for nonprofits
As a whole, the public doesn’t have clear information about what’s happening with nonprofits. Policies are changing quickly, and the information that’s available isn’t always reliable. Funders can help advocate for the nonprofit sector by making communication a priority.
The information void
With federal policies shifting and executive orders coming down swiftly, there’s a lot of uncertainty around what’s happening for nonprofits. Some organizations are even facing the possibility of losing their tax-exempt status. Grantees might not know what this sort of change means for their funding. And the general public might not know how it impacts their communities.
Amidst all the changes, many federal sources of information are disappearing. Thousands of pages have been deleted from government websites, including the CDC, the Department of Justice, the Census Bureau, and others.
There is a new need for funders to step into the public discourse. Nonprofits might not be able to communicate the value of their work all by themselves, especially when they are so busy with the work itself. Plus, nonprofits might not be able to take the kind of risks funders can in defending their work. They don’t want to jeopardize any federal funds they receive.
How the Jerome Foundation is filling the void
Eleanor and her team saw an opportunity for the Jerome Foundation to step up and help shape the narrative. In the past, they’ve avoided taking the mic because they want the focus to be on the community. But they realized they could be the ones to hold the spotlight.
The Foundation helped launch community forums in Minnesota, bringing together funders and arts organization leaders. They also started a newsletter, where they feature funding opportunities and provide a clear channel for information about what’s happening across their communities.
A big part of their communication strategy is to help get stories out in the world that show why this work matters. Eleanor says a core question they ask is: “How can we be more creative in the way that we are distributing and telling stories?” One way is by bringing the concept of collective action into their communication strategy. Their newsletter isn’t just about their work, they also highlight other funders and organizations in their ecosystem.
The Foundation is also stepping up to try to fill information gaps. They’re doing the legwork to understand data security for their grantees, particularly those whose identities make them vulnerable.
“Everyone is doing their own risk assessment,” Eleanor says. “We have artists calling us wanting to know what the access is like to the information they provided. And in some of the applications, people talk really openly and honestly about the work that they’re doing.”
Eleanor and team also proactively communicate with grantees, so they know exactly how new policies and economic changes impact their funding. “We’re letting our artists know, we’re going to continue to fund you. We don’t receive any federal funding,” Eleanor says. The Foundation wants grantees to have all the information they need without having to ask for it.
How to calibrate your comms strategy
The nonprofit sector needs advocates and clear channels for reliable information. Funders can do their part by:
- Proactively communicating with grantees, both individuals and organizations, about what kind of support they can expect.
- Finding ways to share the stories from the community so that everyone understands the full value of nonprofit work.
- Looking for ways to highlight opportunities from other funders and share community resources.
- Coordinating with other funders and organizations to create and execute a communication strategy.
Work backward to find a way forward
I wish we could look ahead and see the edge of the clouds to know exactly when this particular storm will pass. But the future for nonprofits is very uncertain right now. Everyone is still in the thick of it.
With so much change happening so fast, it can be easy to get in a reactionary mode. But Eleanor advocates for a more strategic approach. She wants funders to consider the end state they’re trying to achieve, and then walk back step by step to figure out how to get there.
We want a thriving ecosystem for our communities. So how do we create that? We can’t do that if we’re not working collectively.
“We want a thriving ecosystem for our communities,” she says. “So how do we create that? We can’t do that if we’re not working collectively.”
Part of that strategic work is identifying and investing in the right infrastructure. “I think that arts and culture is infrastructure, as is access to education, to libraries, to museums of all different scales, as is healthcare, and housing, and food. I hear the frustration from all political affiliations about the brokenness of systems,” Eleanor says. As funders look to strengthen the nonprofit sector in 2025, it’s essential for them to consider how their support can help repair and rebuild the systems communities depend on.
The Jerome Foundation proves that when it’s impossible to see the lighthouse on the shore, it’s important for everyone who’s still in the water to become beacons for each other. Funders and nonprofits can light the way forward together.
Laura Steele is a social impact writer and editor at Submittable focused on the world of grantmaking and corporate giving. Her work often explores the connection between technology, equity, and social good. She also writes fiction and nonfiction. You can read some of her stories and essays at laurapricesteele.com.