Samwise Nonprofits and Charities Newsletter
Friday, May 15, 2026
IRS Launches Form 990 Transparency Initiative Requiring Nonprofits to Disclose Government Funding Sources
The U.S. Department of the Treasury and IRS announced an initiative to revise Form 990 with new requirements that would require tax-exempt organizations to disclose the sources of their government funding and clarify how those funds are used. The changes, first announced April 23, would also bring greater scrutiny to fiscal sponsorship arrangements — in which a nonprofit shares its legal and tax-exempt status with a mission-aligned project. Proposed regulations will be published for public comment before finalization, a process that could take years. Inside Philanthropy’s Mike Scutari identified five key implications for nonprofits and funders navigating the new transparency landscape.
Sources: Inside Philanthropy
Fund for Shared Insight, a $78 Million Listening-Focused Funder Collaborative, Closes June 30
The Fund for Shared Insight, a collaborative of funders that invested more than $78 million over a decade to help nonprofits and foundations listen more effectively to communities, will sunset June 30, 2026. The initiative launched in 2014 with a focus on closing the feedback gap between funders and the people their grants were meant to serve. Its two flagship programs — Listen4Good, which built constituent feedback infrastructure for nonprofits, and Listen to Community, a funder learning effort — will continue through successor organizations. Inside Philanthropy examined how the initiative shaped philanthropic practice and what its closure means for the listening-centered grantmaking movement.
Sources: Inside Philanthropy
New Reports Show Nonprofit Leaders Are Frightened as Funding Cuts and Executive Orders Compound Sector Strain
Reports from the Center for Effective Philanthropy and the Urban Institute document a nonprofit sector under severe duress, with leaders expressing fear and urgency about their organizations’ futures. Urban Institute analysis found that 60 to 80 percent of nonprofits risk a financial shortfall if federal grant funding is not restored, and many leaders report that responding to executive orders is consuming time that would otherwise go to direct services and fundraising. CEP’s survey of 380 nonprofit leaders found 66 percent concerned about financial stability, with 56 percent saying the current political context has directly lowered staff morale and elevated organizational stress.
Sources: Inside Philanthropy
Billionaire-Backed Foundations Now Account for Half of America’s 25 Largest, Up from One Quarter a Decade Ago
Twelve of the 25 largest private foundations in the United States now have a living billionaire donor at the helm — double the six that did a decade ago — according to new Candid data analyzed for Inside Philanthropy. The analysis shows that living donors now direct nearly half of the nation’s biggest philanthropic institutions, up from 24 percent in 2015. The shift raises renewed questions about accountability, payout rates, and how donor intent intersects with the public benefit mandate of tax-exempt foundations. Reporter Martha Ramirez examined what this billionaire concentration means for foundation governance and whether philanthropic pluralism is narrowing.
Sources: Inside Philanthropy
Investigation Finds Human-Like Nonprofit Chatbots Are Reducing Donor Engagement and Eroding Trust
A Nonprofit Quarterly investigation finds that nonprofits deploying human-simulating AI chatbots are experiencing drops in donor engagement and trust rather than the efficiency gains they expected. Drawing on research from George Mason University and case studies from organizations including the SameSame Collective and UPchieve, NPQ documents a quiet backlash from donors and clients who feel misled when they discover they were talking to a bot. The findings challenge sector enthusiasm for AI-driven constituent engagement and suggest that transparency — not simulation — may be the more effective design principle for nonprofits using conversational AI in fundraising and client services.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Boston’s First Standalone Birth Center for Women of Color Breaks Ground After Years of Community Organizing
The Neighborhood Birth Center, Boston’s first freestanding birth center designed specifically to serve women of color, is breaking ground in May 2026 after more than five years of community organizing, fundraising, and navigating complex regulatory approval. The center aims to address stark racial disparities in maternal outcomes in Massachusetts, where Black women are more than three times as likely to die from pregnancy-related causes as white women. Nonprofit Quarterly profiled the organization’s journey, highlighting how centering community ownership — rather than institutional backing — shaped the center’s governance model and clinical vision for culturally grounded midwifery care.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
NPQ Analysis Urges U.S. Funders to Learn from Global Majority Giving Practices, Where Remittances Dwarf Foreign Aid
Global remittances reached $656 billion in 2023 — nearly three times the $223 billion in foreign aid — yet U.S. philanthropy continues to overlook giving cultures rooted in kinship, reciprocity, and mutual aid, according to a Nonprofit Quarterly analysis. The piece argues that American philanthropy is too “WEIRD” (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, Democratic) in its assumptions, and that funders miss both effectiveness and legitimacy by ignoring how the Global Majority actually moves money. The analysis notes that giving circles with 370,000 participants collectively moved $3.1 billion in recent years, offering one bridge between U.S. foundations and more community-embedded philanthropic traditions.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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