Samwise Nonprofits and Charities Newsletter
Wednesday, July 8, 2026
Black Churches Have Functioned as America’s Civic Infrastructure for More Than Two Centuries
As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, a Nonprofit Quarterly analysis by Augustina Boateng argues that Black churches have served as America’s most consequential civic institutions for over 200 years. Long before “community development” and “nonprofit” entered the American vocabulary, Black congregations were feeding families, funding schools, building mutual aid networks, and providing healthcare to communities state institutions failed. During Reconstruction, church-based mobilization helped launch political careers: between 1868 and 1876, more than 2,000 Black Americans held public office. Boateng asks whether philanthropy will now fund, trust, and learn from these anchor institutions.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
San Francisco’s Transgender District Outlines a Blueprint for Collective Power Under Federal Policies Targeting Trans Communities
Breonna McCree, Co-Executive Director of San Francisco’s Transgender District — the world’s only transgender district — writes in Nonprofit Quarterly that trans-led organizations are building community resilience as federal policies compound local funding cuts. The White House’s 2026 counterterrorism strategy formally designated “radically pro-transgender” groups as priority threats to neutralize, while the Lemkin Institute for Genocide Prevention has issued alerts warning of a genocidal process against trans people, citing a 668 percent increase in anti-trans legislation since 2021. San Francisco’s Department of Public Health cut over $17 million from community-based organizations in early 2026. The Transgender District’s Riot Fund has raised over $128,000 in response.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Nonprofit Supervisors Who Avoid Difficult Performance Conversations Create Cascading Costs, with Disproportionate Impact on Staff of Color
Jenna Collins, Director of Supervision and Professional Development at Community Legal Services of Philadelphia, uses the metaphor of a wobbly toilet in Nonprofit Quarterly to argue that avoiding difficult supervision conversations creates cascading costs. Avoidance does not distribute its consequences equally: Collins writes that Black staff and staff of color are less likely to receive early, consistent developmental feedback and more likely to have problems escalate into crisis before anyone intervenes. She argues that organizations promote high performers into management without supervision training, then blame individual supervisors when staff turn over. Early, direct feedback — specific, non-judgmental, clear, firm, and kind — is the first line of repair.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Competing Commissions and an Eroded Sense of American Exceptionalism Challenge Nonprofits’ 250th Anniversary Volunteer Drives
As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, nonprofits pursuing ambitious volunteer drives face both competing political agendas and declining civic confidence. Two separate commissions — America250, the official nonpartisan group formed by Congress in 2016, and Freedom 250, a nonprofit created by President Trump and led by his allies — have generated dueling logos and conflicting messaging. An AP-NORC survey found that fewer Americans now see the country as exceptional compared to a decade ago. The America Gives volunteer tracker counted just over 38 million hours volunteered entering the holiday weekend. Many nonprofits are also scrambling for workers after the Trump administration gutted AmeriCorps in 2025.
Sources: Chronicle of Philanthropy Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Nonprofit Sector’s Tolerance for Operational Friction Is Quietly Eroding Staff Retention and Donor Relationships, Column Argues
Kate McGinn, founder of consulting firm The Bold Stripe, argues in The NonProfit Times that the nonprofit sector tolerates unnecessary friction that silently erodes retention across staff, volunteers, and donors. According to Momentive Software’s 2026 Workforce Report, 66 percent of nonprofit staff would prefer investment in professional development over a pay raise. When a major gifts officer leaves, donor relationship histories often walk out with them, costing organizations between six and nine months of salary to rebuild. A Gartner survey found 38 percent of Gen Z and Millennial customers abandon a service interaction when it grows too cumbersome, versus 11 percent of Baby Boomers.
Sources: The NonProfit Times Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Grant Writers Must Navigate a Political Minefield of Restricted Language as Federal Funders Reject DEI Terminology
Tony Spearman-Leach, senior director of Institutional Advancement at the U.S. Congressionally chartered National Academy of Public Administration, writes in The NonProfit Times that grant writing has become politically treacherous in 2026. Governmental funders may now decline proposals containing words associated with equality, gender, diversity, minorities, and similar terms, while nongovernmental grants may operate differently unless they must comply with government restrictions. Spearman-Leach invokes the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis — the theory that language shapes perception and understanding — to argue that ethical grant writers have a duty to craft proposals that allow reviewers across the ideological spectrum to feel acknowledged and understood.
Sources: The NonProfit Times Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Candid Analysis Finds Total Charitable Giving Reached $617 Billion in 2025 While Individual Giving Declined
Candid analyst Kyoko Uchida published a July 7, 2026 analysis of Giving USA’s latest annual philanthropy report, finding that total charitable giving in the United States reached $617 billion in 2025 while individual giving declined during the year. Candid publishes the Philanthropy News Digest and provides data resources to the nonprofit sector. The $617 billion figure and the accompanying decline in individual contributions are the report’s key findings for the 2025 giving year, with detailed takeaways available through Candid’s coverage of the Giving USA annual report.
Curated by JD · samwise.agency