Entering 2025, nonprofit leaders were most concerned about the intersecting challenges of financial instability owing to uncertain revenues and rising expenses, increasing program demand, and supporting their workforces amid these changes. This brief analyzes an open-ended survey response from late 2024 which asked nonprofit leaders about their primary concerns for their organizations in 2025. Nonprofit leaders highlighted concerns about sustainability, balancing increased demand with decreased funding, and vulnerability in a shifting funding landscape—all of which points to a prevailing sense of uncertainty among organizational leaders. This brief is part of the Nonprofit Trends and Impacts Study.

Why This Matters

Nonprofit leaders’ key concerns entering 2025 can guide funders, policymakers, and stakeholders in making informed decisions to support nonprofit organizations’ sustainability and effectiveness during a period of increased uncertainty and demand for services among communities.

What We Found

• More than half of respondents (55 percent) indicated that their organizations’ financial health was their biggest concern. Of this group, the majority (92 percent) were most worried about their organizations’ financial uncertainty and the remaining 8 percent were most concerned about the broader fiscal environment.
• Of the nonprofit leaders concerned about their organizations’ revenue, the majority (65 percent) identified general revenue, not any specific funding, as their key concern. Overall, these leaders highlighted the challenge of increasing revenue to keep pace with rising program costs and general expenses, especially as the needs of many of their clients had increased.
• Around 20 percent were focused on charitable and philanthropic support and highlighted the decline in funds, increased competition for funding, and the challenge of aligning their organizations' priorities with those of donors and funders.
• About 15 percent were focused on government funding; responses highlighted concerns that decreases in public and governmental funds will create additional need among communities they serve, which will be challenging to meet, especially as their own funding is affected by the gap in federal funding. They also highlighted fears about securing governmental funding if that funding declines or competition increases.
• About 1 in 10 respondents indicated that their organizations’ programs were their biggest concern. Most of these respondents highlighted concerns about their ability to meet the demand in their communities, especially as they saw the need for services growing.
• Around 1 in 5 leaders responded that they were concerned about their workforces, including staffing, leadership, volunteers, compensation, and related issues such as staff burnout. Among these, about 40 percent were concerned most about staffing, and around 15 percent mentioned concerns about leadership, salary, and volunteers.

How We Did It

We used data from the 2024 National Survey of Nonprofit Trends and Impacts, specifically the open-ended question, “All things considered, what are you most concerned about for your organization over the next year?” There were 2,975 responses to this question. Our team coded the responses, focusing on broad social, economic, programmatic, and political themes, resulting in 5,272 coded segments for analysis.