Federal Policy Updates

Updates 

Latest Update - April 22, 2025

Last Tuesday, a federal judge issued a nationwide preliminary injunction preventing the Administration from freezing, halting, or broadly pausing payments for funding awarded under the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) or the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA). The National Council of Nonprofits, together with NCN members, filed the lawsuit in response to the Administration freezing funding appropriated by Congress under the IRA and IIJA. 

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.

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.

• State Policy Calls | Thursdays at Noon CT

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:

  1. 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.
  2. Identify your risk level for loss of funding (guide below).
  3. Prioritize the most important actions.
  4. 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 

• Nonprofit Impacts Survey
• Understanding Nonprofit Impacts at the Federal Level Webinar Recording 
• Myth Vs. Reality - Executive Branch Lacks Authority to Target Nonprofit Organizations 
• Frequently Asked Questions on Executive Actions Impacting Nonprofits
• Executive Orders Affecting Charitable Nonprofits Chart
• The Impacts of the Recent Executive Orders on Nonprofits

      More resources can be found here

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