Nonprofit organizations have faced numerous challenges in the past year. In the start of 2025, nonprofits across the US reported they were facing government funding disruptions, staff reductions, and decreased levels of community trust.
To understand how this tumultuous environment is affecting the nonprofit sector, we examined survey data about nonprofit leaders’ top concerns in 2024 and 2025.
Our new analysis finds that the focus of leaders’ concerns largely stayed the same in both years, with their organizations’ financial health, programming, and workforce sustainability persisting as top concerns. However, the tone of many leaders’ responses shifted from uncertainty about the future in 2024 to more critical concern about ongoing challenges in 2025.
Together these data show nonprofits are dealing with persistent, intensifying challenges that could limit their ability to serve communities. To help nonprofit funders and policymakers understand and address the sector’s needs, we offer evidence of how specific pressures shifted for nonprofits between 2024 and 2025.
Understanding nonprofit leaders’ concerns
Data on nonprofit leaders’ top concerns come from the 2024 and 2025 National Survey of Nonprofit Trends and Impacts. The annual survey is distributed to 501(c)(3) public charities in the United States that have annual expenses and revenues of $50,000 or more, engage in activities ranging from direct service provision to community building and advocacy, and primarily receive rather than provide funds. We refer to them as “nonprofits” throughout.
The sample excludes organizations that usually fund nonprofits, such as foundations, as well as hospitals, higher education institutions, schools (day cares, preschools, and K–12 schools), churches and other houses of worship, mutual benefit organizations, philanthropic support organizations, and other organizations with unique business models and contexts. The nonprofit leaders who received the survey are CEOs, executive directors, or equivalents.
This analysis is focused on an open-ended survey question asked in fall 2024 and spring 2025: “All things considered, what are you most concerned about for your organization over the next year?” Our project team coded 2,975 written responses from 2024 and 2,495 written responses from 2025 according to a codebook focused on broad social, economic, and programmatic themes.
Reponses coded under finances include any mention of an organization’s expenses, revenue or revenue cuts, financial uncertainty, or general financial health (e.g., budgets or reserves status). Responses coded under programming include discussions about lines of service, clients, impact, mission, program reduction or growth, demand, marketing, or education. Responses coded under workforce include concerns over leadership, staffing, burnout, salary and benefits, or volunteers. We compared responses from 2025 to our 2024 findings to gauge changes in focus and sentiment.
How did nonprofit leaders’ concerns change from 2024 to 2025?
The top concerns in 2025—finances, programming, and workforce—mirrored those in 2024, with some key differences.
About half of nonprofit leaders were most concerned about their organization’s financial health in both years. Among leaders who reported apprehensiveness about finances, three out of four worried about their revenue. Of those worried about revenues, one in four specifically cited revenue cuts, naming lower donations related to the economic downturn and increased competition for remaining funds.
Government funding cuts also emerged as a significant concern. About 11 percent of leaders who were focused on finances worried about reductions in their government revenue. Leaders spoke specifically to disruptions in both operating and programmatic dollars from reduced government programs. These concerns align with broader survey findings, which revealed that 33 percent of nonprofit organizations in the US reported some kind of disruption to or loss of government funding in the first four to six months of 2025.
Though financial concerns were largely similar in 2024 and 2025, the nature of leaders’ responses shifted from general feelings of uncertainty to specific apprehensions about both current and future problems, as the responses below illustrate.
“I am most concerned about financial sustainability. There is a lot of political uncertainty heading into the upcoming year, and I have concerns about how that might impact government grants, as well as giving by businesses and individuals.”—2024 respondent
“We are concerned about the loss of federal and state funding, and we have just submitted our budget for the coming year, and because of cuts across a lot of civil grants and funding, we fear we will not receive that funding that we need to continue to operate. If we do not, we will have to reduce services to the public, which is the antithesis of what we are striving to do.”—2025 respondent
Nearly one in five nonprofit leaders was worried about their programming, including their mission and focus and the activities they engage in to meet their mission. There was a small increase (5 percent) in the share of leaders concerned about their organization’s programming from 2024 to 2025. Among these leaders, 22 percent were apprehensive about meeting community demand for services, and 6 percent discussed scaling back programs or activities.
Like with their financial health concerns, the tone of nonprofit leaders’ apprehensions about programming intensified from 2024 to 2025. As the responses below exemplify, their worries shifted from potential threats to currently emerging challenges.
“Our agency has always stood as a pillar for the community, offering resources that directly impact the well-being of thousands of families. If these services are cut, it’s not just a matter of losing a program; it’s about losing the stability that allows individuals to regain their footing and build a better future.”—2024 respondent
“Over the next year, our primary concern is maintaining the capacity to meet our agency needs with limited resources. With recent funding gaps and the loss of key partnerships, we’re navigating how to sustain programs without compromising impact.”—2025 respondent
One in 10 leaders was concerned about the sustainability of their workforce. This represents a slight decrease from 17 percent in 2024. In 2025, most of these concerns pertained to hiring and departures of staff who were not in leadership roles.
The nature of workforce-related responses largely stayed consistent in both years. Leaders continued to express concerns over hiring, layoffs, and staff retention amid financial pressures, as the responses below show.
“We need to increase sustainable funding so that we can adequately staff our organization. We are currently understaffed because of not enough funds.”—2024 respondent
“We are increasingly concerned about staff burnout and organizational capacity. Our small team is working tirelessly to bridge funding gaps, reapply for grants, and sustain essential services. Without stable, predictable support, we risk losing key personnel and being forced to scale back core operations, an outcome that would profoundly impact the communities we are dedicated to serving.”—2025 respondent
Among leaders who discussed staffing concerns, the share mentioning burnout doubled from 4 percent in 2024 to 8 percent in 2025.
What does this mean for the nonprofit sector?
Though nonprofit leaders were largely apprehensive about future uncertainties in 2024, their worries shifted to problems actively affecting their organizations in 2025. These leaders continue to face challenges with their organizations’ financial health, program capacity, and workforce. However, their concerns are increasingly urgent, with a subset of leaders worried about being able to stay open, and many facing rising demand for their services despite limited capacity.
These findings provide insight on the intensifying challenges nonprofit organizations are experiencing and can inform the efforts of funders, policymakers, community leaders, and other stakeholders seeking to support the sector.
