{"id":222988,"date":"2025-10-02T08:00:17","date_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/?p=222988"},"modified":"2025-10-02T08:00:17","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T18:00:17","slug":"hawaii-nonprofits-federal-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/2025\/10\/02\/hawaii-nonprofits-federal-cuts\/","title":{"rendered":"Hawai\u02bbi nonprofits face losing more than $100<abbr>M<\/abbr> in federal cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"<span class=\"span-reading-time rt-reading-time\" style=\"display: block;\"><span class=\"rt-label rt-prefix\">Reading time: <\/span> <span class=\"rt-time\"> 2<\/span> <span class=\"rt-label rt-postfix\">minutes<\/span><\/span><p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/manoa-uhero-housing-report.jpg\" alt=\"scenic shot of buildings and mountains\" width=\"676\" height=\"381\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-157691\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/manoa-uhero-housing-report.jpg 676w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/manoa-uhero-housing-report-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/manoa-uhero-housing-report-130x73.jpg 130w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 676px) 100vw, 676px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s nonprofit sector is facing budget cuts and program changes that could disrupt essential services statewide. A new analysis by the <a href=\"https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/\">University of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Economic Research Organization<\/a> (<abbr>UHERO<\/abbr>) and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hawaiicommunityfoundation.org\/\"><span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Foundation<\/a> provides an early warning system to identify grants, organizations and subsectors at risk, allowing local leaders to prepare responses in advance. Key findings of the October 2 report include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Political risk:<\/strong> 74 federal grants to 59 <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> nonprofits&#8212;worth <strong>$126 million in unpaid balances<\/strong>&#8212;are politically vulnerable. More than half of this risk is concentrated in <strong>healthcare programs<\/strong>, with significant exposure also in <strong>human services, environment and education<\/strong>. Programs serving <strong>Native Hawaiians<\/strong> account for more than half of the state\u2019s politically vulnerable funds.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Financial risk:<\/strong> Roughly <strong>1 in 3 federally funded nonprofits<\/strong> depend on Washington for more than 20&#37; of their revenue. Human Services nonprofits are among the most financially exposed: federal direct grants provide 36&#37; of all dollars spent in the subsector and make up 28&#37; of the average recipient\u2019s revenue. The environment, healthcare, and education subsectors also show high levels of exposure.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Structural risk:<\/strong> Highly concentrated fields, such as science and voluntary health, rely heavily on a few anchor organizations, while fragmented fields, such as youth development and sports, depend on hundreds of micro-organizations operating on shoestring budgets. While these traits are not in themselves negative, they reveal that the results of cuts in federal funding may vary by subsector, requiring tailored policy responses.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Although only a small share of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s nonprofits receive direct federal funds, the analysis reveals pockets of heightened vulnerability. Cuts in healthcare, housing and education would also compound strains from reductions in Medicaid, <abbr title=\"Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program\">SNAP<\/abbr> and other safety net programs.<\/p>\n<p>Federal cuts are unpredictable, but their impact in <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> can be mitigated. According to the report, potential strategies include rapid response funding, diversification of revenue streams, capacity-building, coordination and contingency planning. By acting together, leaders in government, nonprofit organizations, philanthropy and business can ensure that <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span>\u2019s nonprofits remain resilient and continue to provide critical services to the state\u2019s most vulnerable residents.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Major changes in federal funding are often difficult to predict, but their ripple effects can be devastating when they land,&rdquo; <abbr>UHERO<\/abbr> Executive Director Carl Bonham said. &ldquo;By mapping out which grants and organizations are most at risk, this analysis gives <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> leaders the tools they need to be proactive rather than reactive.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We\u2019ve reactivated the <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Resilience Fund and funded <abbr>UHERO<\/abbr>\u2019s analysis because we need clear data to respond strategically, understanding which services and communities face the greatest risk so we can target support effectively,&rdquo; said Terry George, President and <abbr title=\"Chief Executive Officer\">CEO<\/abbr> of <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Foundation. &ldquo;This is about building nonprofit capacity, adaptability, and local sustainability for the long term, not just short-term relief. By partnering with funders, government, and community organizations, we\u2019re strengthening the social safety net that holds <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> together, ensuring the organizations deeply rooted in our communities can navigate this transition and emerge more resilient.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Nonprofits across our state face urgent challenges as funding becomes increasingly uncertain and they navigate shifting priorities, federal cuts and the strain of meeting growing community needs with fewer resources,&rdquo; said Michelle Bartell, President and <abbr>CEO<\/abbr> of Aloha United Way. &ldquo;Aloha United Way thanks <abbr>UHERO<\/abbr> and <span lang=\"haw\">Â鶹´«Ã½<\/span> Community Foundation for investing in vital research that will help direct resources where they are needed most.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/uhero.hawaii.edu\/the-vulnerability-of-hawaiis-nonprofit-sector-to-cuts-in-federal-funding\/\">See the entire report on <abbr>UHERO<\/abbr>\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><abbr>UHERO<\/abbr> is housed in <abbr title=\"University of Hawaii\">UH<\/abbr> M&#257;noa\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/socialsciences.manoa.hawaii.edu\/\">College of Social Sciences<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The analysis provides an early warning system to identify grants, organizations and subsectors at risk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":149017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[301,197,1467,1363,1600,1026,9,343],"class_list":["post-222988","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-research","tag-college-of-social-sciences","tag-economics","tag-manoa-excellence-in-research","tag-manoa-research","tag-public-impact-research","tag-social-science","tag-uh-manoa","tag-uhero","entry","has-media"],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/10\/manoa-uhero-household-energy-use.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222988","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=222988"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222988\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":222991,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/222988\/revisions\/222991"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/149017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=222988"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=222988"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hawaii.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=222988"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}