Samwise Nonprofits and Charities Newsletter
Monday, June 1, 2026
Nonprofit Burnout Hits Record High as Funding Shortfalls Spread Across Every Revenue Source
A new report from the Center for Effective Philanthropy, based on surveys of 380 nonprofit leaders, documents the sector under compounding pressure. The share of chief executives who say burnout is very much a concern jumped to 46 percent in 2026, up from 29 percent a year earlier. Nearly three in four nonprofits report increased demand for services since January 2025, while 30 percent have cut staff and 26 percent have reduced programs. Funding has tightened from every direction: nearly 60 percent say foundation grants are harder to secure, and 48 percent report difficulty with federal support. Thirty-nine percent ran a deficit in fiscal year 2025, up from 22 percent in 2022.
Sources: NonProfit PRO
Climate Justice Is Every Nonprofit’s Business, Researchers and Advocates Argue
Climate change intersects with virtually every nonprofit mission, according to analysis published in Nonprofit Quarterly. Wildfires, hurricanes, and extreme heat are disproportionately harming marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ people who researchers find are more likely to lack stable housing and face barriers during disaster response. Contributors from Food and Water Watch, Population Connection, and the Fair Start Movement argue that nonprofits focused on poverty, public health, housing, and racial justice cannot separate their work from climate outcomes. They recommend three steps: challenging corporate greenwashing narratives, raising awareness of how climate overlaps with each mission, and building cross-sector coalitions to address intersecting harms.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Nonprofit Fundraising’s Hidden Labor Cost Is Structural, Not Personal, Essay Argues
Grant proposals function as governance documents that reshape nonprofit organizations before a single dollar moves, argues Benjamin Alfaro in Nonprofit Quarterly. Fundraisers perform constant interpretive labor—translating complex community realities into institutional language that satisfies funder expectations. Alfaro argues this extraction is structural rather than an individual failure: nonprofits adopt compliance-focused practices because funders require them, not because of internal design flaws. He draws a historical parallel to the 1917–1932 Rosenwald school-building program, in which communities provided the majority of funding for institutions they did not govern, and links the same dynamic to the sector’s documented burnout crisis.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Long COVID Clinics Drop from 400 to 26 as Public Attention Shifts to Hantavirus and Ebola
The World Health Organization recorded 12,284 new COVID-19 cases globally between April 6 and May 3, 2026, while an estimated 18 million people worldwide carry a Long COVID diagnosis—yet public concern has shifted to emerging threats. A Nonprofit Quarterly report documents how fear of hantavirus and Ebola is crowding out sustained attention to Long COVID at a moment when care infrastructure is collapsing: only 26 clinics nationwide confirmed they still offered Long COVID treatment in March 2026, down from 400 in 2022. People living with Long COVID describe ongoing physical symptoms, social isolation, and growing difficulty accessing care as funding cuts close facilities.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Nonprofit Leader Calls for Redesigning Communities Around Elders as Essential Infrastructure
Millions of grandparents serve as primary caregivers for grandchildren without adequate financial or social support, while older adults continue to provide knowledge transfer, conflict resolution, and relational labor that formal systems rarely fund, argues Dr. Sandy Range in Nonprofit Quarterly. Range, founder of the Grandmothers’ Village Project, writes that housing, health, and policy systems structurally treat elders as dependents rather than as the community backbone they are—a design failure rather than a consequence of aging. Her organization is developing Wisdom Tree Village, an ecosustainable, intergenerational community in which elders hold governance roles alongside the families and residents they serve.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
How Nonprofits Can Sustain Health Equity Gains After the Grant Money Runs Out
Bridge Center, a Public Health Institute program, funded hospitals that treated more than 45,000 patients with opioid use disorder and implemented HIV and syphilis testing in hundreds of hospitals across over 40 states. Writing in Nonprofit Quarterly alongside a Clinton Global Initiative colleague, Bridge staff outline four strategies for sustaining health equity programs beyond grant cycles: design programs around frontline staff realities; collect only data tied to a concrete decision; build sustainability plans before launch rather than at grant end; and treat policy advocacy as a core program activity. Bridge’s advocacy secured a new Medicaid reimbursement pathway for patient navigation services.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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