Samwise Nonprofits and Charities Newsletter
Wednesday, July 1, 2026
Buffett Delays Annual Gates Foundation Donation Amid Epstein Review
Warren Buffett has delayed his annual midyear donation to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation—the first postponement in two decades. Buffett is awaiting a review into the foundation’s ties to the late Jeffrey Epstein, the Chronicle of Philanthropy reported. Gates became acquainted with Epstein in 2011; documents released by the Department of Justice and Congress since late 2025 detail the relationship. Gates testified before the House Oversight Committee on June 10, calling his meetings with Epstein a “grave error in judgment” while denying witnessing criminal activity. Buffett has contributed nearly $48 billion to the foundation since 2006; his most recent annual donation reached nearly $4.6 billion.
Sources: Chronicle of Philanthropy Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Closure of Identity Alaska Ends the Only Queer-Focused Health Clinic in the State
In May 2026, Identity Alaska closed its doors just one year before its 50th anniversary, ending the only health clinic dedicated to queer patients in Alaska. The nonprofit—founded in 1977 as the Alaska Gay Community Center and merged with Full Spectrum Health in 2020—offered primary care, mental health services, medication management, and preventive screenings. Its board cited an immediate cash flow crisis: Medicaid had failed to deliver roughly half of expected payments. Former executive director Tom Pittman wrote that the closure is “the loss of a long-standing piece of community infrastructure.” A second clinic planned for Spokane, Washington, will also not open. Telehealth services ended May 1.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Aid Organizations Mobilize After Venezuela Earthquakes but Delivery Timelines Remain Uncertain
Aid organizations mobilized to reach Venezuela after two earthquakes struck the country’s northern coast on June 24, 2026. The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported that relief was on the way but delivery timelines remained uncertain. Millions of Venezuelans were already struggling to access food, medicine, and basic services before the disaster; the earthquakes compounded those needs across the region. Relief experts recommended cash donations to organizations already operating in Venezuela, noting that local purchasing supports survivors and nearby economies, and that established groups with existing networks can respond faster. The International Rescue Committee, Direct Relief, UNICEF, and World Central Kitchen have all activated humanitarian response operations.
Sources: Chronicle of Philanthropy Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Candid Deploys AI to Track Nonprofit Closures and Layoffs in Real Time
Candid has deployed an early-warning system to identify nonprofit closures and layoffs before traditional data sources can document them. Researchers Cathleen Clerkin and Amy Nguyen spent nine months developing a tool that classifies incoming news articles to detect organizational distress, cutting a data lag of up to two years down to days. The work comes as the nonprofit sector confronts mounting closures and layoffs linked to federal funding cuts and a shifting political climate. Candid says the system is designed to give funders and policymakers earlier signals so they can respond before organizations reach the point of no return.
ACLS Calls for Collective Action by Funders to Fill NEH Funding Gap
The American Council of Learned Societies announced a coordinated effort to fill the funding gap left by federal cuts to the National Endowment for the Humanities, convening private funders and working alongside 86 scholarly organizations. The initiative follows a May 7 federal court ruling in the organization’s favor. In 2026, ACLS directed more than $400,000 toward China Studies through this collective action effort. ACLS president Joy Connolly has championed the initiative as a model for how higher education, philanthropy, and public interest organizations can collaborate to sustain humanities scholarship during a period of diminished federal support.
Sources: PR Newswire / ACLS Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Pew Charitable Trusts Awards Biomedical Fellowships to 16 Latin American Researchers
The Pew Charitable Trusts has announced $20,000 Advancement Awards for 16 biomedical researchers in Latin America through the Pew Latin American Fellows Program. The 35-year-old program is supported by Biohub. Pew reports that nearly 70 percent of fellows return to Latin America after completing their training abroad, contributing to sustained biomedical research capacity across the region. The June 30 announcement names the program’s latest cohort of Advancement Award recipients. The program supports biomedical scientists developing research careers in Latin America and has maintained a 70 percent regional return rate across its 35-year history.
Sources: PR Newswire / Pew Charitable Trusts Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Otis Spunkmeyer Cause-Marketing Campaign Delivers Record $160,698 to Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation
Aspire Bakeries, through its Otis Spunkmeyer brand, has contributed a record $160,698 to the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation through a cause-marketing campaign that ran from September to December 2025. The campaign was connected to the Sodexo Charity Classic. Since its founding in 1996, the Sodexo Stop Hunger Foundation has leveraged more than $46 million to address hunger and food insecurity across the communities it serves. The donation is described as a record for the Otis Spunkmeyer cause-marketing campaign. The Foundation has a community relief event planned in Altadena, California in September 2026.
Sources: PR Newswire / Aspire Bakeries Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
GrantWatch Launches Conversational AI Platform for Human-Verified Grant Research
GrantWatch has introduced GrantWatch Intelligence, a conversational AI platform designed to support nonprofit grant research. The tool draws on a database of more than 63,000 monitored grants and 4.69 million verified IRS 990 records. Unlike platforms that rely on web-scraped data, GrantWatch Intelligence uses what the company calls Human Verified Grants—manually confirmed grant information sourced and checked by human researchers. The platform includes a 12-Stage Grant Pipeline. CEO Libby Hikind announced the product on June 30, 2026. GrantWatch Intelligence became available to MemberPlus+ subscribers beginning June 29, 2026, with broader availability to follow.
Sources: PR Newswire / GrantWatch Share ↗ ✉︎ Email 💬 Text
Curated by JD · samwise.agency