Resiliency Strategies for Nonprofits in Times of Political and Financial Instability

Sarah L. Young
Professor of Public Administration
Director of Research, KSU CARES
Kennesaw State University

Elizabeth A.M. Searing, PhD, CNP
Fellow, Venise Stuart Professorship
in Nonprofit Management & Leadership
Associate Professor, University of Texas at Dallas
Adjunct Research Professor, Carleton University

Kimberly K. Wiley
Assistant Professor
University of Florida

On January 22, 2025, 21 minutes before the scheduled start of a two-day federal grant orientation for 50 nonprofits who had just received the Specialized Services for Abused Parents and Their Children Demonstration Grant, the recipients received an email from the director of the US Office of Family Violence Prevention and Services, under the federal Department of Health and Human Services.

The email informed the nonprofits, which provide critical intervention services for family, domestic, and dating violence, that the grant orientation was canceled, effective immediately with no reason given, and that the government office had been instructed to “refrain from public speaking engagements,” including communication with the nonprofits.

The nonprofits, many of which were already starting to draw down these critical funds, were stunned: While the letter did not address the recent attempted freeze in federal funding by executive order of the president, the nonprofits worried their federal grant funds were at risk—and what the cryptic messaging meant.

The bizarre incident was one of hundreds of similar scenes of confusion, fear, and uncertainty across the nonprofit world after the attempted federal funding freeze. The nonprofit world must prepare for seismic events like this, as more are sure to come.

This moment presents a crucible for the nonprofit sector. Nonprofits and the communities they serve cannot afford to be passive casualties of political shifts. They must prepare to wield their strongest weapons—advocacy, strategic planning, and collaboration—to fight back and defend their missions.

Dr. Sarah L. Young, Professor of Public Administration at Kennesaw State University, serves as the Director of Research for CARE Services, a campus support program for students who have experienced foster care or unaccompanied homelessness. Her research uses systems-based approaches to study the intersection of nonprofit, public management, and equity, especially during periods of crisis. Dr. Young earned her Ph.D. from Florida State University’s Askew School of Public Administration and Policy and her M.B.A. in nonprofit management from the University of Tampa Sykes College of Business. She is the co-editor-in-chief of the Journal of Public Affairs Education and serves on the editorial board of Teaching Public Administration.

Dr. Elizabeth A. M. Searing is an Associate Professor of Public and Nonprofit Management at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Searing’s primary research focus is the financial management of nonprofit and social enterprise organizations, but she also conducts work on comparative social economy more broadly. She is an Associate Editor and editorial board member of Nonprofit Management & Leadership, and an editorial advisory board member at VOLUNTAS and the Journal of Public Budgeting, Accounting and Financial Management (JPBAFM). Her articles have been published in peer-reviewed journals such as the Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Nonprofit Management & Leadership, and Nonprofit and Voluntary Sector Quarterly.

Dr. Kimberly Wiley researches the relationship between nonprofit organizations and their public funders as well as qualitative methodology. She is particularly interested in domestic violence advocacy organizations serving families and youth. Though, she also enjoys testing new qualitative methods on data like social media and television. She won several awards for her work on faculty sexual misconduct and nonprofits in crisis. Her scholarship has been published in Nonprofit Management & Leadership, Nonprofit & Voluntary Sector Quarterly, Public Administration, Affilia: Journal of Women and Social Work, and Public Policy & Administration.