Photo credit: Courtney Kent Photography
Image description: A forest stream flows through Sever Bridges Natural Area with rocks and tree roots along the banks, surrounded by evergreen trees and branches in the foreground.
During September-October 2025, funding partners, including the Community Foundation and Rotary Charities of Traverse City, collaborated on a follow-up funding impacts survey of our nonprofit partners as they head into the final quarter of the year.
Overall, the follow-up survey shows the intensifying concerns identified in previous surveys about the fallout from funding cuts and policy moves: rising housing and food insecurity and increasing demand for basic needs alongside reduced access to services for clients.
At the same time, local organizations are straining to serve our communities despite staffing cuts and mounting administrative burdens necessary to access the funds previously committed to them—funds that oftentimes were already spent in good faith. Unsurprisingly, organizations are tapping into emergency and reserve funds.
What is different this time is the grim reality surfacing in nonprofits’ narratives—particularly around impacts on the people and communities they serve.
These impacts are not all directly related to organizations’ diminished funding to provide services. Many are the result of cuts to other safety net programs. Our nonprofit partners are reporting unprecedented economic and social strains on our most vulnerable neighbors and what they are witnessing is taking a toll.
Nonprofits across our region are sounding the alarm: federal funding cuts are driving housing insecurity, food shortages, and staff burnout. Explore the latest survey insights and what’s at stake for our communities.