Every week, I gather what’s useful and worth paying attention to.
I often encounter articles like Phil Buchanan and Elisha Smith Arrillaga’s “Trump Is Winning the War on Nonprofits” in Common Dreams that leave me with more questions than answers. While billions of dollars in Congress-allocated funds have been cut, organizations face investigations and threats to their tax-exempt status, especially when their missions clash with this administration’s agenda. I continually ask myself what actions we can take—not in the long run or during rebuilding phases—but right now, while the situation remains volatile.
I don’t have a definitive answer yet, but constantly focusing on the issue and on solutions that rely solely on individual actions, without considering structural changes, is tiring. We need to have more discussions about future directions. More to come on Thursday, July 2, 2026.
ICYMI from last week: Joy is the Engine: Stephán O’Shea on What Comes After the Fire
Birthright citizenship is protected by the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and no president has the authority to change who qualifies for citizenship. President Trump’s attempt to terminate birthright citizenship is a clear misuse of executive power and reflects an effort to decide who belongs in the country. This matters because the 14th Amendment, ratified in 1868, has safeguarded birthright citizenship, due process, and equal protection under the law for more than 150 years. Trump’s executive orders threaten to dismantle this legacy, exploiting fear and division.
You can act now by signing Popular Democracy’s petition urging leaders and the Supreme Court to oppose any efforts to end birthright citizenship and to uphold the 14th Amendment. You can also text DEFEND to 25463 to join the movement.
Youth Radio, a nonprofit in Oakland that has trained young people in media, music, and storytelling since 1993, has reopened. After closing in 2024 due to financial difficulties, it reopened its downtown Oakland office this week, appointed new executive director Maeven McGovern (daughter of founder Ellin O’Leary), and welcomed its first two youth groups. The reopening was supported by alumni, community funders such as Community Vision and the California Wellness Foundation, and a deliberate growth strategy. This time, leadership is intentionally maintaining a small scale, focusing on sustainability rather than the rapid growth that led to the previous closure. Read the full story from The Oaklandside.
Congress passes the largest housing affordability bill in decades — and Trump cancels the signing, NPR
Senate for first time approves a war powers resolution in a rebuke to Trump over Iran conflict, AP News
The Invisible Infrastructure of Climate Resilience, Inside Climate News
How local communities are challenging Big Tech data centers’ noise, pollution and rising electricity bills, The Conversation
Trump Designated Antifa “Domestic Terrorists” — New Prosecutions Follow His Lead, Truthout
Philanthropy is having the wrong conversation about its future, Alliance Magazine
As Supreme Court expands Trump’s immigration power, experts warn of steeper U.S. population decline, NPR
When Disruption Hits: Making Hidden Risks Visible to Meet the Moment and Move Our Missions Forward, Nonprofit Quarterly
Some paid the ultimate price to enact voting rights. Their survivors see America turning backward, AP News
Why Are Humanists So Bad at Defending the Humanities?, The Chronicle of Higher Education
Personifying AI Harms People and Protects Companies, Tech Policy Press
How Mission Hijacking Undermines the Fight for American Democracy, TIME
The Case for Co-Governance: Our Foundational Argument, Colorlines
Watch this video featuring Bryan Stevenson, founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, as he discusses the importance of fully memorializing America’s history. Stevenson shares his decades-long experiences transforming Montgomery, Alabama, into what he calls “the most truthful space in America” for confronting slavery and lynching.
Public Speak is a monthly civics podcast hosted by Felicia, an Easthampton city councilmember, and Rachel, a member of her San Diego neighborhood planning committee. They explain how local government works, highlighting its impact on daily life. The latest episode features Beth Santos, founder of Wanderful and co-owner of Ula Cafe in Boston, who shares her experience as a public advocate for the White Stadium Project. Her main message is that everyone is involved in politics, knowingly or not.
Lisa Hurley’s podcast, Space To Exhale, kicked off season 2 with an episode featuring her sister, Sharon Hurley Hall, author of I’m Tired of Racism and creator of The Unsilenced Method™. The discussion highlights the creation of safe spaces, including Sharon’s Still and Sovereign Retreat in Barbados and her Quiet Queens gatherings in London. These spaces emphasize softness and sovereignty as ongoing practices rather than rewards.
Check out this research report from Forthright Advising about breaking the habits that stall child and family advocacy. Based on interviews and surveys with 25+ nonprofit and foundation leaders nationwide, the report names three field-wide habits getting in the way of real progress: failing to choose between short-term crisis response and long-term systems change, internal competition and overcomplicated messaging that turns allies into “frenemies,” and a tendency to lead with jargon instead of the shared values that actually move people.
Global Narrative Hive’s “Imagining the Otherwise” curriculum offers a free, downloadable guide to help you start a narrative-writing group focused on reimagining safety beyond punishment. Developed from a five-month pilot with eight storytellers and organizers from Latin America, Southeast Asia, the Pacific, and SWANA, it features five modules with readings and exercises on indigenous resistance and abolitionist theory.
PolicyLink’s Housing Justice Narrative Toolkit is a resource for advocates and storytellers advancing housing justice, offering a “story platform,” core values, guidance on audience and tone, and digital strategy tips to help the housing justice movement tell consistent, emotionally resonant stories about housing as a basic need.
This resource library from the Principles for Trusted Elections is a nonpartisan collection of toolkits, reports, workshops, and websites focused on voter education and civic dialogue. It aims to help people understand how elections work and to encourage action through tools such as voter ID guidance and resources that foster dialogue to bridge political divides.
This report from the Aspen Institute introduces “essential wealth” as a standard for household financial security that considers asset poverty, emergent wealth, and overall well-being. Only 26% of U.S. households meet this benchmark; 43% have moved out of poverty but lack a solid foundation. This metric helps funders, policymakers, and program leaders develop more effective wealth strategies and track progress in reducing economic gaps.
Her Haq is a youth-powered nonprofit operating across six states and centering the lived experiences of women and girls. It does so through digital advocacy and public dialogue, co-creating more inclusive and accountable systems alongside the communities most affected.
The Indigenous Leadership Initiative is dedicated to strengthening Indigenous Nationhood to fulfill the Indigenous cultural responsibility to the lands and to support the emergence of new generations of Indigenous leaders through capacity building.
The Building Movement Project helps nonprofits and movements align their practices with their core values. It does so through research, practical tools, training sessions, and convenings that examine how race, leadership, and power shape the nonprofit sector.
For the Record, an archive from Capital B (in partnership with PushBlack), collects firsthand audio, video, and written stories from Black Americans across generations and regions, including civil rights activists and everyday neighbors, to preserve a fuller record of Black life and history.
The Center for Compassionate Leadership advocates for compassionate leadership approaches grounded in neuroscience and contemporary leadership practices. It advances this mission through training and community-building efforts to transform cultures and systems.
Race Forward launched DemocracyIs: (Re)Imagining the Next 250 Years, a campaign tied to the country’s 250th anniversary that asks what a racially just, multiracial democracy should look like. At its center is a free 5-part webinar series, #RaceAnd Democracy, running through July 30, 2026. Register to access recordings from previous webinars and the remaining sessions.
The online program for the Interfaith Action for Palestine (IAP), taking place July 5-7, 2026, in D.C, is still open, and you can be part of it. IAP is a coalition of faith-rooted organizations coming together to counter Christians United for Israel (CUFI), the largest pro-Israel organization in the country, at CUFI’s Annual Summit this summer. The coalition brings together Jewish, Christian, Muslim, and interfaith groups united in opposing Christian Zionist theology and its role in fueling U.S. support for Israel’s actions in Gaza.
Noor, a global feminist think-and-do tank that monitors and opposes far-right movements, is hosting its “Know Your Enemy” five-week online educational program for organizers actively resisting far-right initiatives. Priority is given to applicants based in or working within the Global South. The program runs from August 7 to October 16, 2026, and includes five biweekly sessions. It aims to deepen understanding of the far right as a transnational phenomenon. Applications are due by Sunday, July 6, 2026, at 6:00 p.m. ET.
As the July 4th weekend approaches, it’s important to reflect on what this holiday truly signifies. While America250 is celebrating with fireworks and patriotic programming, these festivities obscure the struggles many communities still face. Amid grilled hot dogs, beer, and family gatherings, it’s important to remember that the same government celebrating its 250th birthday is also reducing nonprofit funding, gutting voting rights, targeting immigrant families, stripping rights from trans individuals, limiting access to reproductive healthcare, and blatantly destabilizing our democracy.
If you come across a tool, story, opportunity, or call to action that should be on my radar (or if you’re working on something you’d like others to see), I’d love to include it in a future round-up! Send me a message on Substack or email me at tirreab@gmail.com.
Thank you for reading The Impact Edit, a round-up brought to you by philanthropy unfiltered! Feel free to share it with someone who could use these tools, stories, and insights in their work.
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