The Scale of What Happened
In the first half of 2025, the Urban Institute surveyed nonprofits and found that 33% reported some form of federal funding disruption. Of those, 21% reported outright loss of government funding. Another 27% reported delays or freezes that prevented them from accessing money they had been awarded. Six percent received stop-work orders, meaning they had to halt active programs mid-delivery while waiting for federal agencies to decide whether to proceed. Federal News Network estimated that $425 billion in federal funds had been canceled or frozen since January 2025 across all recipients, not just nonprofits. DOGE, the advisory body operating under the Department of Government Efficiency, published claims that it had terminated 15,887 grants totaling $49 billion. That number has been disputed on methodology grounds, but the underlying terminations are documented individually on agency websites and in USASpending.gov records. The 85% figure cited in nonprofit sector surveys is striking: 85% of nonprofits reported being impacted in some way, whether through direct termination, funding freezes, increased competition from peers seeking alternatives, or the administrative burden of responding to program changes. Eighty-two percent reported pivoting toward private, corporate, or foundation grants as a result. This is not a description of political debate. It is a factual summary of documented funding actions. The terminations happened. The grants were canceled. The numbers are on record. Search nonprofit funding opportunities on Funding Landscape
What Was Terminated, Agency by Agency
The terminations were not evenly distributed. They hit specific agencies hard and left others largely intact. **National Institutes of Health** terminated or suspended 5,844 grants representing approximately $2.3 billion in unspent funds. Congress kept the NIH budget at $47.22 billion for FY2026, which is the fact most frequently cited. The less-cited fact is that NIH issued 22% fewer new grants in FY2025 compared to the FY2015-2024 average of 16,099 per year. Success rates at NCI fell from roughly 1-in-10 to 1-in-25. For detail on NIH specifically, see our NIH grants guide. **National Science Foundation** canceled or suspended 1,996 grants totaling approximately $700 million. NSF funded 20% fewer new grants in FY2025 compared to FY2024. The agency continues accepting proposals, but competition is meaningfully more intense than two years ago. See our NSF grants guide. **Department of Justice** terminated 373 grants totaling $820 million. These grants supported violence reduction programs, victim services, re-entry programs, and community safety initiatives. The cuts were concentrated in programs the administration characterized as related to DEI or serving populations outside its stated priorities. **HUD** terminated 78 Fair Housing Initiatives Program (FHIP) grants across 33 states, totaling approximately $30 million. Fair housing organizations sued. Multiple cases are pending. The grants had been funding enforcement, outreach, and education programs at the state and local level. **National Endowment for the Humanities** faced DOGE-directed attempts to claw back $175 million in unspent grant funds that had already been awarded to institutions and organizations. NEH's total budget is around $207 million, making this an attempt to recover nearly its entire unspent award portfolio. **AmeriCorps** had $400 million in grants cut and approximately 32,000 members terminated. The FY2026 executive budget proposal called for the complete elimination of AmeriCorps. Congress has not acted on that proposal, but the FY2025 cuts are in effect. Organizations that relied on AmeriCorps members as program staff face a significant operational gap. **USAID** was shut down effective July 1, 2025. Before shutdown, 87% of its contracts and grants were terminated. Of the 11,004 awards active at the start of 2025, only 3,052 remain active. International development nonprofits that depended on USAID funding lost the primary source of their program revenue. No equivalent replacement mechanism has been created. **EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF)** totaled more than $20 billion appropriated under the Inflation Reduction Act. The administration moved to repeal and recover these funds. The case is in active litigation. Courts have issued conflicting rulings at different levels. As of February 2026, the funds remain in legal limbo and nonprofits awarded GGRF funding cannot access it. These are documented terminations with public records attached. Grant Witness (grant-witness.us) tracks individual terminations in real time and is the most current public database of what has been canceled.
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The Legal Situation, Without False Hope
Courts have been active. The news for nonprofits seeking to recover terminated grants is not encouraging. In August 2025, the Supreme Court issued a ruling that sent most federal grant termination challenges to the Court of Federal Claims rather than district courts. This is a significant procedural shift. District courts can issue injunctions ordering agencies to reinstate grants and can compel specific performance. The Court of Federal Claims can award monetary damages for breach of contract but cannot order agencies to reinstate terminated grants or restore ongoing programs. For a nonprofit that depended on a grant to run services, an eventual damages payment two years from now does not keep the lights on today. District court injunctions that had temporarily blocked some terminations are being overturned as cases get transferred or remanded. The temporary restraining orders that made headlines in early 2025 have largely expired or been vacated. Specific active cases: Fair housing organizations affected by the 78 HUD FHIP terminations filed suit against HUD. Cases are in various stages across multiple federal circuits. No grants have been restored through litigation to date. AmeriCorps recipients filed suit challenging the $400 million in cuts. The litigation is ongoing. Members who were terminated have not been reinstated. The EPA GGRF litigation is the most complex and highest-stakes. Multiple parties with conflicting interests are in court. The $20 billion remains frozen while legal proceedings continue. The timeline for resolution is uncertain. The practical implication for nonprofits: do not plan your 2026 budget around legal outcomes. Courts may eventually award damages to some organizations. They are unlikely to restore terminated programs in time to matter for operational planning. Organizations that were cut need alternative funding, not legal hope. If you have an active terminated grant and want to track legal developments, the National Council of Nonprofits maintains an updated resource page on federal funding changes.
What Federal Funding Still Exists for Nonprofits
The terminations were large and real. They were not universal. Significant federal funding for nonprofits remains active. **NIH** retained its $47.22 billion budget (saved by Congress against a proposed 40% cut). Every institute survived. NIH continues issuing new awards, with research nonprofits and universities as primary recipients. The system is more competitive and less predictable than before the payline elimination, but it is functioning. For nonprofits doing biomedical, behavioral, or public health research, NIH remains the primary federal source. The key operational change: NIH no longer publishes paylines, and applications now need demonstrated strategic alignment with the specific institute's current priorities, not just scientific merit. See our NIH guide for mechanics. **NSF** continues accepting proposals. The 20% reduction in FY2025 grant volume means competition is harder, but the agency is open and operational. STEM education nonprofits, informal science learning organizations, and nonprofit research institutions are all eligible for appropriate NSF programs. See our NSF guide for program-specific detail. **HHS sub-agencies beyond NIH** are largely intact. HRSA (Health Resources and Services Administration) funds community health centers, rural health programs, and health workforce development. SAMHSA funds substance abuse and mental health services. ACF (Administration for Children and Families) funds Head Start, child welfare, and family support programs. ACL (Administration for Community Living) funds programs for older adults and people with disabilities. These agencies have been consolidated under a new structure called the Administration for a Healthy America, but their funding is continuing. See our HHS guide for detail on each sub-agency. **Department of Labor** workforce programs (including Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act funding through states) continue. Nonprofits that provide job training, adult education, and workforce services access this through state workforce boards. **NEA (National Endowment for the Arts)** Grants for Arts Projects remains active. NEA's total budget is smaller than NEH's but has been less targeted for elimination. State arts councils receive NEA pass-through funding and run their own grant programs. **HUD Community Development Block Grant (CDBG)** continues to fund community development, housing, and service programs through state and local governments. The 78 FHIP terminations affected fair housing enforcement specifically; CDBG and HOME programs have continued. State pass-through programs are increasingly important. States receive large blocks of federal funding and distribute them as sub-grants. A nonprofit that cannot access federal funding directly can often still receive it through a state agency acting as the prime recipient. Search federal opportunities open to nonprofits
Alternatives: Foundations, States, and Private Grants
Eighty-two percent of nonprofits report pivoting to private and foundation funding. This is the rational response. It is also creating intense competition in a pool that was never designed to absorb a sudden $49 billion shortfall. **Foundation giving** operates at meaningful scale. U.S. private and community foundations hold approximately $1.75 trillion in assets. Major foundations have made public emergency commitments. MacKenzie Scott distributed $7.16 billion to nonprofits in 2024-2025, with many grants directed to organizations affected by federal cuts. The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation committed $15 million specifically to humanities organizations affected by NEH actions. The Ford Foundation, Open Society Foundations, and others have announced increased commitments to organizations previously dependent on federal funding. But the math is difficult. The federal terminations affected roughly $49 billion in grant commitments. Total U.S. foundation giving in 2024 was approximately $103 billion. Foundations cannot double their giving to fill a gap, and the money they do give is now flowing toward a much larger pool of applicants. **Community foundations** are worth particular attention. They often have fewer applicants, know local organizations personally, and respond faster than national foundations. Most operate emergency grant programs alongside traditional cycles. For nonprofits with local or regional service areas, the community foundation is frequently underutilized relative to its actual giving capacity. **State funding responses have been uneven:** Massachusetts created a contingency fund to backstop nonprofits that lost federal funding. New Mexico added $30 million in state funding for programs affected by federal cuts. Minnesota passed automatic surplus transfer legislation to direct budget surpluses toward affected nonprofit sectors. California created state nonprofit security grants for organizations facing threats. No state has created a comprehensive replacement program. Individual state responses have been targeted and insufficient to replace what was lost at scale. But they represent real money for organizations operating in those states. **Corporate grants and sponsorships** are growing as a channel. This funding is less predictable than federal grants (no published application cycles, heavily relationship-driven) but is expanding as companies respond to the same political environment. For finding foundation prospects specifically: IRS 990 data is the most reliable source of information on what foundations actually fund versus what they say they fund. Our MCP tool allows 990-based searches showing historical giving patterns, geographic focus, typical grant sizes, and whether foundations accept unsolicited applications. If you are using Claude, Cursor, or another AI assistant with our MCP integration, the 'search_foundations' tool is the fastest way to identify aligned funders. Search foundation and private grant opportunities
How to Search Effectively Right Now
Strategy varies by nonprofit type. Here is a practical breakdown. **Research nonprofits (biomedical, behavioral, public health, STEM education):** NIH and NSF remain the primary federal sources. Both are more competitive than two years ago. Supplement NIH and NSF applications with PCORI (patient-centered outcomes research, awards up to $12 million per project), DoD CDMRP ($1.27 billion across 34 programs, including non-military health topics), and ARPA-H (rolling Mission Office opportunities, $1.5 billion budget). For healthcare research specifically, see our healthcare and biomedical funding guide. **Direct service nonprofits (human services, housing, food, social support):** Federal funding from ACF, HRSA, ACL, and DOL continues at reduced but real levels. State-administered programs are increasingly important. Search by state name to find current state-level opportunities. CDBG and HOME remain active. Food bank and nutrition programs through USDA are largely intact. See our USDA grants guide for rural service nonprofits. **Arts and humanities nonprofits:** NEA Grants for Arts Projects is accepting applications. State arts councils (which receive NEA pass-through funding) are often less competitive than the national program and run multiple cycles per year. For humanities organizations that lost NEH funding, the foundation route is currently more viable than a federal replacement. The Mellon Foundation specifically committed $15 million to this sector. **Environmental and clean energy nonprofits:** The EPA GGRF remains in legal limbo. Avoid planning around it for 2026. DOE continues several programs for nonprofits including weatherization assistance, energy efficiency grants, and technical assistance programs. State-level clean energy programs (particularly in California, New York, Colorado, and Massachusetts) are actively funded and accepting applications. See our EPA grants guide and energy grants guide for what is currently accessible. **Housing and community development nonprofits:** CDBG continues. HOME continues. HUD programs not explicitly terminated are operating. Fair housing enforcement organizations specifically (those affected by the 78 FHIP terminations) face the most direct gap, with litigation ongoing but no near-term resolution. **Tracking terminations:** Grant Witness (grant-witness.us) maintains a live database of individual terminations. If you are unsure whether a grant program you were counting on is still active, this is the fastest public check. For official confirmation, check the agency website directly. **Foundation research process:** For any nonprofit pivoting to foundation funding, the two most useful steps are: (1) pull the 990 for foundations in your sector to see their actual giving history rather than their stated priorities; (2) check whether they accept unsolicited applications before investing in a relationship. Our MCP foundation search tool does both steps in seconds. Search all open nonprofit opportunities on Funding Landscape