Opinion Piece: “How Trump Could Target Nonprofits — And How to Protect Yours”

Is there a storm gathering over Civil Society?  There is a whole lot of weeping and gnashing of teeth going on, that is for sure.  At least on the progressive side.  Here is commentary from The Chronicle of Philanthropy:

Since Donald Trump entered the political arena, federal and state officials and lawmakers have increasingly used legislative and regulatory power, as well as intimidation, to repress views and advocacy with which they disagree. Donors and nonprofits are attacked by name, smeared in the media and court of public opinion, harassed and threatened online, and investigated on questionable grounds. Not since the Civil Rights era, when pro-segregation state governments attempted to undermine charitable organizations like the NAACP, has civil society faced such an acute threat. Now the re-election of President Trump has placed American civil society in its most vulnerable position in a generation. President Trump has declared that nonprofits “get away with spending all of their time and money on ‘getting Donald Trump,’” adding, “We are watching these thugs and sleazebags closely!”

The president-elect also regularly attacks philanthropists and Democratic donors, including George Soros, a frequent target of conservatives, and Reid Hoffman, who funded E. Jean Carroll’s civil litigation against Trump. A Trump-authored book published by his campaign accused Mark Zuckerberg of a “plot against the president” for providing local election offices with nonpartisan grants to address COVID safety concerns in 2020. “If he does anything illegal this time, he will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Trump wrote.

We can expect the new administration to target a broad swath of philanthropic organizations based on their ideological views or their efforts to hold the administration accountable. These would include organizations fighting mis- and disinformation, government watchdogs, voter engagement groups, LGBTQ rights organizations, environmental NGOs, and immigration and reproductive rights groups. My organization, the Democracy Funders Network, has cataloged the potential threats in this report.

The commentary offers advice as to how the nonprofit sector can counter the threats.  The report linked in the last line is an interesting, if not alarming read.  It catalogs state and federal legislative efforts directed towards Civil  Society. Here is a bit of it:

Repression is already underway on various fronts at the state and federal levels, and the narrative environment has rarely been more hostile to philanthropy and nonprofits.  Officials and advocates are increasingly attacking charitable and philanthropic organizations on ideological grounds, with calls to strip their  tax status or open investigations based on the substance of their ideas, rather than the legality and appropriateness of their charitable activities.  Allegations of corruption, wrongdoing, and even foreign interference are often leveled against charfitable organizations, based  on limited or nonexistent evidence.

These attacks coincide with a moment in which the American Public is asking valid questions about philanthropy’s power and lack of accountability, and in which Congress and the IRS are considering legitimate regulatory changes  to the nonprofit sector.  In the hands of responsible policymakers, some such changes would no doubt improve the sector significantly.  In the hands of political actors looking to restrict disfavored activity, these moves become part of a troubling authoritarian playbook.  

darryll k. jones