Research Highlights from the Philanthropy Southeast Resource Hub

Philanthropy Southeast’s Resource Hub, our searchable collection of resources related to best practices in grantmaking, foundation management, nonprofit governance, and equitable practices in philanthropy, is regularly updated with new items – including those highlighted below. 

You can recommend content for the Resource Hub using this online form. You may also provide suggestions or share any feedback by  contacting Stephen Sherman, Philanthropy Southeast’s Senior Director of Engagement and Learning, at [email protected] or (404) 524-0911. 

A Sector in Crisis: How U.S. Nonprofits and Foundations Are Responding to Threats
Center for Effective Philanthropy (2026)
This report finds that most nonprofit leaders say the "current context" – the series of events led by the U.S. federal government’s actions beginning in early 2025, including budget decisions, legislation, and executive orders – is hurting their organizations, and that they are looking to funders for more support. Key findings show that nonprofit leaders see this as a time of existential threat to their organizations and the communities they serve as they face both increased demand for their services and significant cuts to their funding. While some foundations have made changes to their grantmaking and processes in response to these circumstances, many foundation and nonprofit leaders believe that foundations have an even larger role to play in supporting nonprofits during this time, and many suggest that foundations could and should be doing more.

Long-Haul Grantmaking: How Many-Year Grants Can Transform Nonprofit Jobs and Amplify Impact
Fund the People (2025)
In 2020, the staff and board of the Walter & Elise Fund held a series of discussions that resulted in a remarkable new grantmaking initiative. After 4-hour interviews of 10 community groups in the Bay Area, they chose seven organizations and committed to give them $500,000 unrestricted yearly grants for seven years starting in 2023 – a total of $3.5 million. They created a learning cohort that meets yearly. To concentrate the funding for these larger grants, they sunsetted many of their prior grantees, which had each received an average of about $37,000. This report, based on a series of interviews, describes what six of the seven grantees have been able to achieve thanks to the security and stability of seven-year guaranteed funding.

The Philanthropy Outlook: Estimating Effects on Charitable Giving from the One Big Beautiful Bill
IUPUI Lilly Family School of Philanthropy (2026)
2025's H.R. 1, commonly known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" (OBBB), was signed into law in July 2025. The OBBB is a large, comprehensive bill incorporating multiple policy priorities from the Trump presidential campaign agenda. While most analysis has focused on the broader impacts of the bill, this research seeks to understand how the OBBB might affect private philanthropy in the United States, either in the short or long term. The report estimates that the OBBB may reduce total annual charitable giving by around $5.69 billion, while increasing the number of donor households by more than 8 million. Of this total, approximately $4.14 billion reflects changes in household giving and approximately $1.55 billion reflects changes in corporate giving.

Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark
Schott Foundation for Public Education (2026)
The Sustainable Grantmaking Benchmark is intended to equip foundations to measure, strengthen, and share grantmaking practices that advance equity, transparency, and long-term impact. Participants can sign up to participate and have their practices reviewed against a framework to generate a score and insights. Participating foundations receive a confidential report with strengths, gaps, and practical recommendations. Funders are also encourage to share their findings and practices to better inform the field. An accompanying report shares findings from the initial cohort of benchmarking participants.

Holding the Line: Black-Led Nonprofits and Race-Explicit Work Amid Backlash
ABFE, Candid (2025)
This report examines Black-led nonprofits' experiences navigating race-related conversations with funders. The research uses a mixed-methods approach, analyzing survey responses from 1,113 nonprofits (including 246 Black-led nonprofits) in fall 2024 and interviews with leaders of 24 Black-led nonprofits between November 2024 and January 2025. The report finds that Black-led nonprofits tend to be explicit about naming race in their external-facing messaging. They are also significantly more likely to receive advice not to mention race when describing their work and may face various forms of pressure from funders to modify their race-explicit language. Despite these pressures and amid an increasingly challenging philanthropic environment, most have maintained their race-explicit focus, though they employ different strategies to communicate their work.