WHITE HOUSE WHIPLASH
Jewish nonprofits left scrambling by federal funding freeze announcements
While groups are seeking clarity on what programs might be cut, one nonprofit leader said: ‘What we are very sure about is that this is reckless. This is chaotic.’

Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post via Getty Images
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters and signs executive orders in the Oval Office at the White House on Jan. 23, 2025.
Jewish nonprofits, along with the rest of the nonprofit sector, were left scrambling after the Trump administration’s surprise executive order on Monday appeared to pause federal funding for nearly all grants and other programs.
A federal judge ordered a temporary stay of the “freeze” on Tuesday evening as litigation against the funding restrictions proceeds, but it’s unclear whether the Trump administration’s efforts could be reinstated in the future. For many, the pending funding freeze could leave core aspects of their programming in limbo.
According to Reuben Rotman, president and CEO of the Network of Jewish Human Services Agencies, though the impact of the executive order is not yet fully known, it has sent a wave of uncertainty throughout the nonprofit community and human services sector specifically.
“This seemed to come out of nowhere,” Rotman told eJewishPhilanthropy. “Abrupt communication that is confusing creates just more anxiety than is necessary, and that’s really the climate that we seem to be operating in right now.”
A range of programs including various social services functions, synagogue security, hate crimes prevention and refugee resettlement could be impacted if the freezes resume.
In a statement, the Jewish Federations of North America, which works with a range of Jewish social services agencies that receive federal funding, as well as Jewish nonprofits that receive federal security grants, said that it’s working to clarify the largely unprecedented situation.
“We are actively monitoring the situation and assessing what it means for the communities we serve and the issues we value,” a JFNA spokesperson said in a statement to eJP. “Since such a pause has not occurred in over 50 years, the implications are currently unclear, and we are working to clarify the situation and update our community with recommendations as the situation comes into focus.”
The initial memo instructed a pause in both the issuance of new grants and disbursement of existing funding while federal agencies vet grantees and submit reports to the Office of Management and Budget to assess whether they “may be implicated by the executive orders, including, but not limited to, financial assistance for foreign aid, nongovernmental organizations, DEI, woke gender ideology, and the green new deal.”
A subsequent memo issued by OMB on Tuesday insisted that the freeze wouldn’t apply to all federal grants, only to “programs, projects, and activities implicated by the President’s Executive Orders, such as ending DEI, the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest.”
The memo did not clarify how such parameters would be defined. The OMB also asserted that the funding hold did not violate the Impoundment Control Act, which clarifies that the executive branch is required to spend federal funds as directed by Congress.
Funding for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program would also likely be impacted by the freeze. The federal government had accepted applications for an additional round of $220 million in NSGP funding last fall, but that funding has not yet been disbursed, and it’s unclear now when it will be.
Congress has yet to determine funding levels for the program for 2025.
Anti-Defamation League CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said that, while details remain murky, the move could impact both the NSGP and hate crimes prevention programs like the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Program and Khalid Jabara and Heather Heyer NO HATE Act.
The programs, Greenblatt said, “are critical in addressing and mitigating acts of hate and violence. ADL is committed to working with the Trump Administration to help policymakers understand the profound consequences that a funding freeze could have on efforts to combat antisemitism and extremism.”
Nathan Diament, the executive director of public policy for the Orthodox Union, noted support in the Trump administration for the NSGP in the past, and expressed confidence that the funding would be quickly restored.
“President Trump supported NSGP in his first term — he signed legislation authorizing a substantial increase in NSGP funding back then,” Diament told eJP. “Also, [the] new Secretary of [Homeland Security Kristi] Noem knows of the importance of NSGP. So we expect it will be unfrozen at the appropriate time.”
Michael Masters, the CEO of the Secure Community Network, said a temporary pause is not a surprise but urged the administration to resolve it expeditiously.
“NSGP funding is responsible for security upgrades at Jewish facilities like day schools, synagogues, community centers, and on-campus Hillels, preventing active shooters from entering Jewish institutions and saving lives in the process,” Masters said. “With the supplemental round of NSGP funding process ongoing, we call for this pause to be brief; otherwise, it could have an impact on safety.”
The executive order also came on the heels of a stop-work order issued to several refugee resettlement agencies by the U.S. State Department on Friday, among them HIAS and the Jewish Family Service agencies it works with. According to Mark Hetfield, president and CEO of HIAS, the combination of the stop-work order and confusion surrounding the Monday memo was a twofold blow to the agency.
“We’re confident we’ll get through it, but we’re going to look very different,” Hetfield told eJP. “We’ve been partnering with them to assist refugees for many, many decades, and clearly they are not a reliable partner.”
While a press briefing on Tuesday clarified that federal programs that provide direct assistance to individuals —- including SNAP, Medicare, housing assistance and Social Security —- were not impacted by the freeze, the initial memo’s lack of clarity sent waves of confusion through the Jewish nonprofit sector.
“This freeze is unprecedented and has the potential to have a serious impact on nonprofit organizations throughout the country and certainly in the Jewish community,” Rotman told eJP. “There are many, many other programs that are funded with federal dollars that are not direct assistance.”
According to Liza Lieberman, vice president of public affairs for Mazon: A Jewish Response to Hunger, the initial lack of certainty surrounding SNAP (colloquially known as food stamps) and other government programs sent Mazon and a number of other organizations in its sector scrambling.
“We’re not totally clear on the full impact this is going to have and how this is going to play out in communities. But what we are very sure about is that this is reckless. This is chaotic,” Lieberman told eJP.
Senate Democrats, in a press conference about the funding freezes, described them as a “constitutional crisis,” ignoring congressionally mandated spending decisions. They said the moves have set off panic among constituents and that Democratic state attorneys general are filing lawsuits to block them.
“This decision is lawless, dangerous, destructive, cruel. It’s illegal, it’s unconstitutional,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said. “Virtually any organization, school, state, police office, town or community depends on federal grant money to run its day-to-day operations and they’re all now in danger.”
He expressed specific concern about funding for the NSGP, noting the antisemitic vandalism of an Israeli restaurant in his neighborhood on Sunday.
Senate Democrats are now pushing for a delay in confirmation proceedings for Russell Vought, the nominee to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, widely seen as the architect behind the funding freeze.
Some Republican senators expressed support for the freeze but outlined concerns about how long it would last. At a press conference, Senate Republicans downplayed the significance of the move.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said the White House had clarified the executive orders, and claimed it’s “not unusual for the administration to pause funding and take a hard look and scrub of how these programs interact with the executive orders the president signed.” He compared the move to President Joe Biden’s decision in 2021 to halt construction of the southern border wall.