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Since Donald Trump entered the political arena, federal and state officials and lawmakers have increasingly used legislative and regulatory power, as well as intimidation, to repress views and advocacy with which they disagree. Donors and nonprofits are attacked by name, smeared in the media and court of public opinion, harassed and threatened online, and investigated on questionable grounds.
Not since the civil-rights era, when pro-segregation state governments attempted to undermine charitable organizations like the NAACP, has civil society faced such an acute threat. Now the re-election of President Trump has placed American civil society in its most vulnerable position in a generation.
President Trump has declared that nonprofits “get away with spending all of their time and money on ‘getting Donald Trump,’” adding, “We are watching these thugs and sleazebags closely!” The president also regularly attacks philanthropists and Democratic donors, including George Soros, a frequent target of conservatives, and Reid Hoffman, who funded E. Jean Carroll’s civil litigation against Trump. A Trump-authored book published by his campaign accused Mark Zuckerberg of a “plot against the president” for providing local election offices with nonpartisan grants to address Covid safety concerns in 2020. “If he does anything illegal this time, he will spend the rest of his life in prison,” Trump wrote.
We can expect the new administration to target a broad swath of philanthropic organizations based on their ideological views or their efforts to hold the administration accountable. These would include organizations fighting mis- and disinformation, government watchdogs, voter-engagement groups, LGBTQ-rights organizations, environmental NGOs, and immigration- and reproductive-rights groups. My organization, the Democracy Funders Network, has cataloged the potential threats in this report.
To be clear, these organizations work on issues with legitimate policy debates. But governmental threats and other forms of harassment are anathema to individual liberty and an open society.
Those who seek to undermine U.S. civil society are borrowing the tactics of autocratic states that quash legitimate opposition and free debate. They are working from a playbook that aims to discredit, drain resources, damage reputations, and instill fear and paralysis across the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors. These lines of attack spread online, take hold in partisan media, make their way to mainstream news, and then get taken up by policymakers using their offices to probe, investigate, and subpoena. We can expect attacks to come from congressional legislation and investigations, federal law enforcement and regulation, and state legislative and legal actions, among others.
Civil society should not be immune from criticism and oversight, and the media and government should help ensure charitable organizations operate ethically and within the law. My concern arises when those in power abuse their authority and threaten to silence and shutter organizations on the basis of their ideals, not the legality of their actions.
Defending Civil Society
While we can predict some of the targets of the new administration, it is worth noting that — by its own admission — the Trump administration will not stick to the norms that have governed past presidencies. Trump’s comments about being a “dictator for a day” and exacting retribution against political enemies should not be ignored. Instead, they suggest that the administration could use the Department of Justice, the IRS, and other entities overseeing nonprofits to launch aggressive, politically motivated, and potentially illegal attacks against charitable organizations.
To confront the threat, philanthropists and nonprofits should:
- Spotlight the repressive tactics of the administration to build public support.
- Build or join coalitions of pro-democracy groups and advocates. My organization is one of many. Unified action can reduce risk for individual groups and strengthen the case for democratic values.
- Expand and deepen their community relationships to develop constituencies for their causes that can speak out when groups and issues come under threat. Nonprofit organizations should consider expanding their networks, including with local civic and political leaders, making it more difficult to take them “off the field.”
- Review programs, policies, and procedures to ensure compliance with the law and provide as few openings as possible for partisan investigations.
- Invest in federal lobbying, crisis communications, and legal support to monitor potential threats and build relationship with key lawmakers.
While defending against the likely threats of Trump’s return to office will be difficult, the philanthropic sector cannot disengage from pro-democracy work at a time when American democracy is at its weakest point. Instead, funders and advocates should redouble their efforts to strengthen the pro-democracy movement and preserve our institutions. The cost of inaction is too high.
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