Washington, D.C. — Federal grants to everyday nonprofits have cratered nearly 40 percent on Donald Trump’s watch. And now he’s ordering the Smithsonian to slap warning signs on American history he doesn’t like.
Federal Grants to Everyday Charities Fell Nearly 40 Percent Under Trump
New data confirms what nonprofits have been reporting all year. Federal grants to everyday charities fell almost $15 billion, a nearly 40 percent drop, comparing the eight months after Trump’s return to office with the same period the year before. The analysis strips out hospitals and universities to isolate the community-level charities most Americans think of when they picture a nonprofit, and it lands against a backdrop of the dismantling of USAID, canceled grants to criminal-justice groups, cuts to arts and humanities funding, and the elimination of funding for NPR and PBS. A nonprofit-sector researcher at Indiana University’s Lilly Family School of Philanthropy called the findings a useful snapshot of a troubled period, and warned that charities facing funding cuts tend to slash fundraising and administrative staff first, which only sets up deeper financial trouble down the road. Therefore, the worst may be yet to come.
Trump Orders Warning Signs Outside America’s History Museums
Trump has issued an executive order demanding the National Park Service install warning signs outside the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History, accusing the museum of pushing a “radical view of American history.” The order claims the museum’s leadership treats American history as a tool to advance “social justice” and is the latest escalation in sixteen months of pressure campaigns against the Smithsonian. The institution isn’t even governed by a single branch of government, but by a board of regents spanning all three. The museum’s director previously testified that its work follows “Smithsonian standards of scholarship, accuracy, independence, and nonpartisanship” and doesn’t take sides in the country’s political debates. Rep. Melanie Stansbury, the ranking Democrat on the Oversight Committee, called the order a clear political overreach driven by an ideological agenda to rewrite American history. The American Historical Association’s executive director noted there is no precedent for a president demanding a museum present an alternative narrative built on a narrow definition of patriotism, calling the order an affront to the professionals who work there. Trump wants Americans to distrust their own national museum because it won’t rewrite history to flatter him.
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