{"id":273643,"date":"2025-12-08T09:35:43","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T14:35:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/?p=273643"},"modified":"2025-12-08T10:27:42","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T15:27:42","slug":"with-the-stroke-of-a-pen-the-devastating-impacts-of-executive-orders-on-community-economic-development-nonprofits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ncrc.org\/with-the-stroke-of-a-pen-the-devastating-impacts-of-executive-orders-on-community-economic-development-nonprofits\/","title":{"rendered":"With the Stroke of a Pen: The Devastating Impacts of Executive Orders on Community & Economic Development Nonprofits"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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With the Stroke of a Pen:<\/h1>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The Devastating Impacts of Executive Orders on Community & Economic Development Nonprofits<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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December 2025<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Timantha Goff,<\/strong> Managing Editor and Writer
<\/em>Jad Edlebi, <\/strong>GIS Data Engineer<\/i><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Key Takeaways<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t
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Nonprofit-driven economic development projects are being halted<\/span><\/b>\u00a0as a consequence of<\/span>\u00a0executive orders targeting the sector. Survey respondents report not only difficulties in planning future programming but disruption to projects that were already underway.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Uncertainty and fear are disrupting day-to-day operations<\/span><\/b>\u00a0at nonprofit organizations as the direct impact of executive orders is compounded by a retreating philanthropic sector.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t

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Immigrants, refugees and minority entrepreneurs are being hit hardest<\/span><\/b>\u00a0by the combined direct and indirect effects of executive orders aimed at undermining nonprofit community and economic development work.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Introduction<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The community and economic development (CED) nonprofit sector has played a pivotal role in the struggle for civil and human rights across a variety of CED policy areas in this country for decades. The vast majority of the monumental advances American society has made have had some sort of connection to passionate leaders, advocates, policy experts, attorneys, researchers and community activists directly working in, or in partnerships with, nonprofits. Additionally, CED nonprofit organizations operating at the national, state and hyperlocal levels have been a vital resource for meeting the material needs of Americans across a variety of socioeconomic and political spectrums.<\/p>

However, the Trump Administration’s recent efforts to undermine the reach, efficacy and overall existence of these organizations have led to questions and concerns about the fate of these important institutions. The weaponization of executive orders has been an especially lethal tool for causing the maximum\u00a0amount\u00a0of difficulties for CED nonprofit organizations while circumventing accountability for the harm being done to the people CED nonprofits serve. CED nonprofits across the country are facing an existential crisis that has never been seen before in the sector\u2019s history.<\/p>

This qualitative research brief will highlight the effects on CED nonprofits of the\u00a0myriad\u00a0of executive orders (EOs) President Trump has issued that have unfairly placed our nation\u2019s CED nonprofits in the crosshairs of the Administration\u2019s frighteningly retrograde agenda. The brief also provides next steps for\u00a0all of\u00a0our nation\u2019s most influential stakeholders in combatting this all-out assault on the CED nonprofit sector.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t

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Methodology<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Participants<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The National Community Reinvestment Coalition (NCRC) is a member organization with a variety of entities working on behalf of economic justice programs and initiatives, in particular community-based nonprofit organizations. Speaking with some of the nonprofit members of NCRC seemed to be the most logical choice as the convenience sample group for this study.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Read more<\/i> <\/div><\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/summary>\n\t\t\t\t
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Outside of ensuring that all of the participants were actual CED nonprofit organizations and that they were current members of NCRC, there wasn\u2019t any other concrete selection criteria. We sought to include the most diverse range of backgrounds possible to provide the most nuanced perspective on the impacts of the Trump Administration\u2019s executive orders. Survey respondents were informed that their responses would be shared anonymously.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Data Collection<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The survey administration and response collection process took place in May and June 2025. For the month of May, the survey was administered via weekly NCRC member-only newsletters with a deadline of the end of that month for their completion. Towards the end of May, the survey was disseminated via NCRC\u2019s social media channels.<\/p>

For the month of June, the remainder of the 40 survey responses were collected via 1-on-1 phone calls made to nonprofit NCRC member organizations based on a list compiled by NCRC\u2019s Membership team.<\/p>

The survey was subsequently closed for submissions at the end of this second survey administration period. All gathered responses were again vetted to ensure that all survey respondents were in fact NCRC members and classified as nonprofit organizations.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Analysis Approach<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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To effectively compare recurring themes across the survey responses given, this study uses a thematic analysis framework to identify key findings. We used the free, open-source qualitative analysis software\u00a0Taguette<\/a>\u00a0to analyze responses given for the following four core survey questions:<\/p>