Unite in Advance: Philanthropy Coalition Launches Solidarity Campaign

Foundations Must Lead With Guts, Not Just Grants

It’s no secret: charitable foundations may be the next American institutions to come under attack. And that matters, because millions of people depend on nonprofits for food, shelter, education, health care, and advocacy. Those nonprofits, in turn, rely on foundations to keep their doors open.

The warning signs are already here: revenue freezes, politicized investigations, executive orders targeting institutions. Oversight dressed up as intimidation. We’ve seen this before, in our own history and across the globe. And if philanthropy waits quietly, we risk becoming easy targets.

As leaders of foundations with more than a century of collective experience, the authors put it plainly: complacency is complicity. Foundations must step up, not only with resources but with courage. Here’s how:

1. Prepare, but don’t obey in advance.
Time is short. Foundations need legal and crisis plans ready, reserves in place, and a clear commitment to defend freedoms: the right to give, speak, and invest. When we tell our story, it must be in plain language - with examples from food banks, clinics, and immigrant organizations that show philanthropy’s human impact.

2. Stand in solidarity.
Silence isolates; solidarity shields. When one foundation is attacked, the entire sector must respond - through joint statements, media presence, and alliances with unlikely partners, from faith leaders to business executives. Above all, we must pledge not to undermine one another. Division is the oldest tactic of suppression.

3. Step up support for communities.
Foundations do not exist to preserve themselves. We exist to serve civil society. That means giving more when needs increase, not less. Inaction carries a higher cost: the erosion of democracy and the freedom to give.

That’s why a broad coalition of foundations, in partnership with the Council on Foundations, is launching a solidarity campaign to defend philanthropy’s independence. The goal: a united front across every state and territory, showing that charitable giving strengthens all communities and transcends partisan divides.

The message is clear: philanthropy’s freedoms - speech, association, giving - are constitutional values, not privileges. Defending them is defending democracy itself.

The question is whether we will act. Will your foundation, or one you know, sign on to this urgent call?

Unite in Advance: Philanthropy Coalition Launches Solidarity Campaign - Full Article Here https://nonprofitquarterly.org/unite-in-advance-philanthropy-coalition-launches-solidarity-campaign/