Federal Policy Updates

NAM and our partners will continuously update this page with information on federal policy changes and their impact on nonprofits.

Updates

Latest April 9, 2025

On April 6th, there was a hearing in the US District Court of Rhode Island in NCN's second lawsuit against the administration: Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, NCN, et al vs. USDA et al.

The hearing was on the motion for a preliminary injunction to stop the administration from arbitrarily freezing funding from the Inflation Reduction Act and the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The judge will issue their ruling any time in the next 2 weeks. If they issue a nationwide preliminary injunction, the DOJ will likely quickly appeal

In the meantime, the nationwide preliminary injunction in our the NCN et al vs. OMB et al remains in place, unchallenged by the DOJ, and preventing the administration from attempting another blanket freeze on all federal spending. A hearing on the underlying merits of the case may be held this month.

Update March 26, 2025

Recently released Executive Orders will have major impacts on communities. Improving Education Outcomes by Empowering Parents, States, and Communities, is an EO signed on March 20th that shifts control of education policy away from the federal government to state and local authorities, effectively outlining steps that threaten to dismantle the US Department of Education. Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections is an EO signed on March 25th that overhauls US elections, including requirements to present documentary proof of citizenship to register to vote in federal elections.

Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court, a memo released on March 22nd, threatens the ability of lawyers to appropriately address legal issues that involve the federal government, especially those concerning homeland security, public safety, or election integrity. This is an outright attempt to silence and attack American lawyers that hold government officials accountable when the American people's rights are violated, setting a dangerous precedent for legal action going forward.

Past Federal Updates

Meetings & Trainings

Federal Updates | Tuesdays in April

Husch Blackwell Strategies federal office will be joining the calls to share what they are hearing from the federal delegation and from Washington D.C. while also answering issue specific questions and learning more about what we are thinking to share back to D.C.

Risk Assessment Tools

A Nonprofit Checklist: Conducting a Risk Assessment for Federal Funding
A Nonprofit Checklist: What to do When Your Federal Grant or Contract is Terminated
Thank you to our partners at Montana Nonprofit Association, NAM advises all organizations at this time to:
Find trusted sources of news. We recommend the National Council of Nonprofits, and the Urban Institute, This resource, Democracy 2025, provides updates on EOs and their legal status.

Identify your risk level for loss of funding (guide below).

Prioritize the most important actions.

Act in solidarity. We are all stronger together.

Organizations that receive federal or state funding are most at risk of losing funding in the immediate future. While other organizations may be subject to law changes at some point, that remains unclear as of February 26^th, 2025. This may change rapidly, but at this time the nature of the Executive Orders and federal funding means non-federally funded organizations are NOT in the highest risk category.

However, almost every organization can take steps now to support themselves and our communities during a time of uncertainty. For more information on this, please visit https://mtnonprofit.org/mna-resources/response-planning-guidelines/.

Resources

Articles

What Is an Executive Order?, American Bar Association, Jan. 25, 2021.
"Head on a Swivel" Advocacy, National Council of Nonprofits, Jan. 27, 2025

Questions?

Reach out to NAM's Policy Manager, Hannah Young