Samwise Nonprofits and Charities Newsletter
Monday, July 13, 2026
Saturday Deep Dive
Today we step back from the daily news cycle and surface the best recent research and long-form analysis on nonprofit impact, philanthropy, and sector policy. Worth a slower read.
Trump’s Proposed Grant Rules Spark Outcry From Nonprofit Sector, Draw 100,000 Comments
The Office of Management and Budget has proposed rules that would overhaul how more than 100,000 nonprofits receive federal grants. The changes would prohibit awards to groups that support DEI programs, undocumented immigrants, or people who are transgender, and would install a political appointee at each agency to ensure grants advance the president’s priorities. Agencies would be free to terminate grants for any reason. The public comment period, ending July 13, drew more than 100,000 responses. Critics warned the rules would make it easy for political appointees to blacklist disfavored grantees, while sector advocates said essential services including early childhood education and health care could be jeopardized.
Sources: Chronicle of Philanthropy Share ↗
Florida’s Sweeping New Nonprofit Governance Law Takes Effect, Prompting Bylaw Reviews
A comprehensive modernization of Florida’s nonprofit law took effect July 1, prompting legal experts to urge all organizations incorporated under the Florida Nonprofit Act to conduct governance reviews. The legislation, enacted as HB 797, materially affects nonprofit governance, member rights and procedures, officer standards of conduct, and the statutory framework governing mergers, restructurings, and other fundamental transactions. The updates apply not only to charitable nonprofits, but also to trade associations, professional organizations, and community associations. Florida nonprofits should anticipate the need to review and potentially revise their articles of incorporation, bylaws, governance policies, member procedures, and transaction documentation to ensure alignment with revised statutory defaults, according to attorneys at Polsinelli.
Sources: The NonProfit Times Share ↗
U.S. Fundraising Salaries Rose 0.9 Percent in 2025 as Rising Benefit Costs Emerge as New Challenge
Fundraising salaries in the United States rose 0.9 percent in 2025 to an average of $97,280, while Canadian compensation increased 6.2 percent to $104,442, according to the AFP Foundation for Philanthropy’s 2026 Compensation and Benefits Study. Based on responses from nearly 2,700 AFP members, the report found 43 percent of U.S. and 28 percent of Canadian respondents reported increases in health insurance premiums. Women in the U.S. reported an average salary of $93,753 compared with $118,038 for men. Only 18 percent of respondents said they were actively seeking employment elsewhere, suggesting mission alignment and workplace culture remain strong retention factors alongside compensation.
Sources: AFP Global Share ↗
Strategic Philanthropy Urged to Invest in HBCUs to Close Sarcoidosis Research Gap for Black Americans
A strategic philanthropy analysis argues that investing in historically Black colleges and universities could jumpstart sarcoidosis research. Sarcoidosis is a rare but serious inflammatory disease affecting approximately 150,000 to 200,000 people in the United States, disproportionately impacting Black Americans. Despite this disparity, Black people make up as little as 5 percent of clinical trial participants across interstitial lung diseases. HBCUs, representing just 2.3 percent of U.S. medical schools, have produced nearly 10 percent of all Black physicians. The Milken Institute and the Ann Theodore Foundation have directed over half a million dollars toward a clinical study on a promising therapeutic, offering a model for targeted philanthropic investment in underserved communities.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗
Choreographer Argues Reparations Movements Need Cultural Investment, Not Just Policy, to Reach the Public
A choreographer argues that reparations movements have a narrative problem: policy alone cannot create the emotional conditions required for the public to receive repair. Writing in NPQ, Christopher Rudd says his work WITNESS, previewed at New York’s Apollo Theater, moves audiences through scenes of American slavery, criminal justice, and collective healing, creating spaces for what he calls “collective witnessing.” Philanthropy has spent decades funding policy conversations and “dramatically underfunding the cultural conditions” required for the public to engage emotionally with them, Rudd argues. His company, RudduR Dance, is expanding WITNESS into a civic convening in Harlem this fall pairing performance with structured public dialogue.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗
Boston Reparations Commissioner: Gen Z and Millennials Are Positioned to Lead Structural Repair of Racial Inequity
The co-director of the Repair America Collective argues that Gen Z and millennials are uniquely positioned to demand structural repair. “We did not design the racial and economic fault lines that run beneath this country,” writes Harison Mitchell Clark, a commissioner on the Boston People’s Reparations Commission. “But we have arrived at the crossroads, and the burden of repair … has been placed at our feet.” Clark argues his generation has the tools to reckon with history, the will to name harm, and increasingly the coalitions to hold power accountable. Liberation Ventures offers a framework he finds clarifying: reckoning, acknowledgment, accountability, and redress.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗
Fundraising Consultant Rhea Wong: Summer Is the Sector’s Biggest Strategic Advantage, Not a Slow Season
Summer may appear slow for nonprofits, but fundraising expert Rhea Wong argues the quiet months are the sector’s biggest strategic advantage. “Donors don’t disappear in the summer. Fundraisers do,” Wong writes in NPQ’s Ask Rhea column. Major gifts that close in December are built in July, she notes: fundraisers who wait until October to cultivate are begging on a deadline. Wong recommends three summer strategies—a portfolio review to cut stalled relationships, booking fall donor meetings before September, and stewardship with no-strings-attached gratitude. She encourages fundraisers to take vacations but to distinguish rest from disappearance, blocking mornings for calls while leaving afternoons free.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗
Vietnamese American Artist Pursues Permanent Boston Memorial Marking 50 Years of Refugee Diaspora
A Vietnamese American artist and cultural organizer argues that Vietnamese refugee histories remain much harder to encounter in public memory, particularly in Northeastern states, and that public art matters because “it gives displaced communities a visible place to remember.” Ngoc-Tran Vu, lead artist of “1975: A Vietnamese Diaspora Memorial” in Boston’s Little Saigon Cultural District, describes the project as a grassroots effort to mark 50 years since the end of the Vietnam War and the beginning of mass Vietnamese displacement and diaspora life. A temporary installation in Dorchester’s Town Field Park in 2025 drew significant community engagement; Vu is now seeking a permanent site, public land access, and financial support.
Sources: Nonprofit Quarterly Share ↗
Curated by JD · samwise.agency
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