Strategies for Strength: Nonprofit Resources to Survive Hostile Government Actions
Last updated April 23, 2025
Across the U.S., nonprofits led by and serving Black, brown, Native, immigrant, transgender, women, and disabled community members face escalating attacks from the Trump administration, state and local governments, hate groups, and others.
This page offers practical resources for advocacy organizations on the frontlines of racial, gender, and economic justice that refuse to be silenced. The collection offers legal tools, safety guides, and messaging strategies to help your team stay ready, stay grounded, and keep serving your community with clarity and courage.
While this page does not focus on frozen or rescinded federal funding, several resources—such as the National Council of Nonprofits’ overview about executive orders—may be helpful to address those challenges.
Legal Guidance about How U.S. Presidents (Can’t) Revoke an Organization’s Tax-Exempt Status
- Nonprofits Under Fire: How the IRS Can — and Cannot — Revoke Federal Tax-Exempt Status from Jeffrey S. Tenenbaum and the Nonprofit Alliance. A short, clearly-written summary.
- Threats to Tax Exempt Status from Sandler Reiff. A detailed memo.
Trackers: Executive Orders Affecting Nonprofits
- Chart of Executive Orders from the National Council of Nonprofits.
- Litigation Tracker: Legal Challenges to Trump Administration Actions from Just Security.
- Response Center from Democracy 2025. To search for updated information by issue (like “Gender Identity” or “Immigration”), agency, etc., scroll down and click on “Filters.”
- Tracking the Policy Landscape for the Charitable Sector from Independent Sector.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility in Employment, Education, Funding, etc.
- FAQs on Responding to Recent DEI Executive Orders from Public Counsel. To access the resource, click on the blue text below “Downloads.”
- Multi-State Guidance Concerning Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility Employment Initiatives from the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nevada, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
- Legal Assistance Intake Form for Organizations Protecting and Advancing DEI from the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
- Pro Bono Legal Assistance Interest Form from The Legal Education, Advocacy and Defense (LEAD) for Racial Justice program, led and coordinated by the California Black Freedom Fund, a collaborative that includes The Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area, Public Counsel, and Adler & Colvin.
Immigration Law Resources for Nonprofits Engaged with Immigrants
- FAQs and Model Policies to Protect Nonprofits Responding to Immigration Attacks (including protections for employees, volunteers, contractors, and clients)
- FAQs on Nonprofit and Small Business Rights with Respect to ICE from Public Counsel. To access the resource, click on the blue text below “Downloads.”
- A Guide for Employers: What to Do if Immigration Comes to Your Workplace from the National Immigration Law Center (NILC). To read the practical “Preparation Checklist,” scroll down or download the PDF.
- Promoting Fair and Safe Workplaces for All from the California Attorney General’s Office. This resource is not written for nonprofits, but the sample policy on p. 17 may be helpful.
- Template to Help Food Sites Establish Guidelines For Volunteers & Staff for ICE Presence from Oregon Food Bank.
- A Sample Policy for Employers Protecting the Community recommended by the Immigrant Legal Resource Center (ILRC).
- Suggested workplace protections from union and labor activists from Labor Notes. Written with a focus on union contracts, but any workplace can adopt these protections.
- Understanding U.S. laws about “harboring” immigrants. Under Section 1324 of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), it’s illegal to smuggle, transport, or protect (“harbor”) certain immigrants.
- What is Section 1324? Understanding the Smuggling/Harboring Federal Crime from the National Immigration Project. Offered in English and Spanish.
- Harboring: Overview of the Law from CLINIC. In this in-depth resource, pages 1-2 and 10-13 offer crucial information.
Risk Assessment and Planning
- Brief guides:
- Survival Strategies in Difficult Times: Tripwires and Safety Planning for Individuals and Organizations from Brevity & Wit.
- How to Simplify and Streamline During a Crisis from the Nonprofit Risk Management Center. A short, practical guide.
- Detailed guides:
- Safety & Security Resources for Nonprofits from the San Francisco Foundation. Includes links to resources, pro bono legal support, and rapid response grants.
- Readiness and Resilience-Building Resources: Cybersecurity, Legal Compliance, Physical Security, and Crisis Communications for Civil Society from the Democracy Protection Network. In-depth resources with useful links to other resources.
- Weathering the Storms: Building Social Justice Resilience Against Opposition Attacks from RoadMap. Published in 2015, but still relevant.
- Weathering the Storms: A Toolkit on Protecting Your Organization Against Opposition Attacks from RoadMap. Published in 2017, but still relevant. Includes detailed resource templates.
Strong and Strategic Messaging
- Making DEI Real: How Nonprofits Can Communicate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in Meaningful and Accessible Ways from Bethany Snyder at Snyder Strategies.
- Do Not Comply: A Lesson from the Last Three Months of Anti-Trans Attacks from Erin Reed of Erin in the Morning.
- Messaging Guides from Anat Shenker-Osorio’s team at ASO Communications. Offers guides in English, Spanish, and Portuguese.
- These Words Are Disappearing in the New Trump Administration from The New York Times (gift link).
Resource Collections for Nonprofit Resilience
- Nonprofit Resilience Under Trump 2.0: Resources from CalNonprofits.
- Resources to navigate uncertainty from the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.
- The Impacts of the Recent Executive Orders on Nonprofits from the National Council of Nonprofits
Nonprofit Voter Engagement
- Electoral Safety Toolkit from Vision Change Win.
- Trump Executive Order on Voting and Elections is Likely Unconstitutional, Also Inaccurately Describes Law on Lobbying by Nonprofits with Federal Funds from Nonprofit VOTE.
- The President’s Executive Order on Elections, Explained from the Brennan Center for Justice.
Resources Specific to California Nonprofits
- FAQs: Immigrant Worker Protection Act (AB 450) from the California Department of Justice.
Thank you to the organizations and individuals who created these resources.
Special thanks to:
- Jay Laefer
- Paula Brantner of Accountability Ignited
- Karl Mill of Mill Law Center
- Amber Hamilton and Rychetta Watkins of the Memphis Music Initiative
This collection provides general guidance for educational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice.
If your nonprofit needs legal assistance about your rights to advocate for community change, please contact Matlin Legal. If you have questions about information in these resources, please contact the organization that published the resource.
Matlin Legal does its best to update these resources, but the information on this page may change over time. Please contact Sara Matlin at Matlin Legal with any updates, suggestions, or corrections.
Get answers to your questions!
Schedule one free consultation with Sara (per organization)