Trust is not lost because of where the money comes from. It is lost because nobody explained it. The Trust in Civil Society Report (July 2025) makes this painfully clear. When people discover a nonprofit receives significant federal funding, trust drops from 57% to 38%. Not because they oppose it. Because they found out on their own. That distinction matters more than most leaders realize. Government funding is legitimate. It is common. It keeps programs running and communities served. But when it surfaces without context — in a news story, a public filing, a casual conversation — it reads as something concealed. Even when it was not. The same report shows the flip side. When organizations proactively explain their funding mix, trust goes up. People reward openness. They do not need a perfect funding story. They need an honest one. This is not a communications problem. It is a leadership one. If your board cannot clearly articulate where your funding comes from and why, your community is filling that gap with assumptions. And assumptions, left unchecked, become suspicion. Own the story before someone else tells it. What does your organization's funding narrative sound like right now? #NonprofitLeadership #Trust #Transparency #Governance #NonprofitStrategy #SectorHealth #ClickVirtualSupport
Nonprofit Trust Lost Due to Lack of Funding Transparency
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Restricted funds tracked in three different places. Program staff asking for numbers you don't have yet. Too many spreadsheets. After working with hundreds of nonprofits to redesign their finance system, we’ve found a clear path that helps nonprofits choose the right fit. Our latest post with insights from Lisa Toback, CPA, PMP and Kate Koraia, MBA breaks down what nonprofit leaders should think through at every stage of the decision. #nonprofitfinance #nonprofitleadership 🔗 https://lnkd.in/eXeiH2SA
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Funding resilience is an important conversation for nonprofit leaders and boards. It’s easy to focus on total revenue, but the real question is whether an organization’s funding structure can withstand disruptions when timing, availability, or funding sources change. Looking forward to this series of questions on strengthening nonprofits!
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We say “people give to people” all the time in fundraising. But what if we took that idea seriously across our entire funding system? In her latest Hive article, Jamie Williams, MBA, CEO at Healthier Texas challenges something many nonprofit leaders feel but don’t always name: We are often asked to translate deeply human, slow, trust-based change into tidy, fundable outcomes. Metrics matter. Accountability matters. But when funding models force a choice between relationship-based work and report-ready outputs, something important gets lost. Jamie writes about what it looks like to treat trust not as a soft skill, not as an outcome to measure at the end — but as infrastructure. The foundation everything else stands on. After losing 80% of federal funding in 2025, she had to rethink sustainability in real time. Not just how to replace revenue. But how to design work around what actually produces lasting change. Her reflection is steady, not reactive. Honest, not dramatic. And it raises an important question for our sector: What would shift if trust-based nonprofit funding models became the norm instead of the exception? If you’ve ever felt the tension between what the grant allows and what your community actually needs, this one will resonate. Read the full article: https://lnkd.in/gyUmm6tW What’s one place in your work where trust is doing more heavy lifting than your metrics capture? #NonprofitLeadership #TrustBasedFunding #SocialImpact #NonprofitCommunity
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