The Nonprofit Impact Tracker

USAID Shutdown

~$40B

Annual budget effectively eliminated. Operations in 100+ countries suspended.

Federal Workers Cut

200,000+

Federal employees terminated or pressured to resign across agencies serving public programs.

Grants Canceled

Thousands

Federal grants to universities, research institutions, and nonprofits canceled mid-term.

People Affected

Millions

Globally and domestically. Exact count being documented.

Agency Dissolved by Executive Action

USAID — the United States Agency for International Development — was effectively shut down within weeks of the new administration taking office. Approximately 10,000 staff were placed on administrative leave or terminated. Contracts worth billions of dollars were canceled, including programs providing food, medicine, HIV/AIDS treatment, and emergency relief across more than 100 countries.

The stated rationale: the agency was wasteful, ideologically captured, and not serving American interests. The documented impact: interruption of HIV/AIDS treatment for approximately 20 million people in Africa; suspension of food aid programs serving tens of millions facing food insecurity; collapse of ongoing disease surveillance programs that had been preventing outbreaks. Multiple federal courts issued injunctions. The administration contested them. Operations have not been restored to pre-shutdown levels.

HIV/AIDS Programs — PEPFAR

The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), established under President George W. Bush and credited with saving approximately 25 million lives since 2003, had its funding suspended pending review. Clinics in sub-Saharan Africa reported immediate supply chain disruptions. Patients on antiretroviral therapy faced treatment interruption — which, for HIV patients, carries documented risk of viral rebound and drug resistance. The administration later partially restored some funding. The disruption period and its mortality impact are being documented.

NEH and NEA — Near Elimination

The National Endowment for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Arts — which fund libraries, museums, public broadcasting, local arts organizations, and humanities programs serving tens of millions of Americans — faced near-total funding elimination in the proposed budget. Both agencies have annual budgets of approximately $200 million each. They support thousands of organizations in every congressional district. The proposed elimination was framed as cost-cutting. The documented beneficiaries are primarily low-income communities, rural areas, and public schools.

University Research Grants — Mass Cancellation

Federal research grants to universities were canceled en masse, including NIH grants for cancer research, climate science, public health, and social science. Harvard University alone had approximately $2.3 billion in federal grants and contracts frozen following a dispute over compliance demands the university characterized as an assault on academic freedom. Columbia University preemptively complied with administration demands and had funding restored — a data point in the documented record of which institutional posture produced which outcome. The long-term impact on American research capacity is being assessed.

AmeriCorps and Domestic Service Programs

AmeriCorps — which places approximately 200,000 Americans per year in service roles at nonprofits, schools, and community organizations — faced significant funding cuts and operational disruption. Programs serving food banks, literacy programs, disaster relief organizations, and veterans' services were affected. The stated rationale was efficiency. The documented impact was the immediate disruption of services to vulnerable populations in communities that rely on federally-supported volunteer infrastructure.

Legal Aid and Civil Rights Organizations

The Legal Services Corporation — which funds civil legal aid for low-income Americans in landlord-tenant disputes, domestic violence cases, and benefit denials — was targeted for elimination. Organizations providing civil rights legal services, including those representing immigrants in deportation proceedings, faced funding cuts and in some cases direct government pressure. The ACLU reported a significant increase in cases requiring emergency legal intervention concurrent with reduced federal support for legal aid infrastructure. Trump's Folly documents the timing.