Recap: One Year In: Massachusetts Nonprofits Charting a Way Forward
March 5, 2026
At a packed gathering on March 5, nonprofit leaders from across Massachusetts came together at the Boston Foundation to take stock of a turbulent year marked by rising need, shrinking resources, and an increasingly hostile federal policy landscape. The event, “One Year In: Massachusetts Nonprofits Charting a Way Forward,” featured new statewide survey data and candid reflections from frontline leaders on how their organizations are adapting to challenges federal actions have placed upon their organizations and the communities they serve.
The sense of urgency was made clear from the outset. TBF President and CEO Lee Pelton opened the program by praising the resilience of the more than 200 attendees in the room — and the many more watching online — who, he said, continue to serve communities despite deepening disruption. “We are living with a federal government that is mean spirited, imperialistic and sometimes unlawful, led by an American president who would be king,” Pelton said, emphasizing the intentional nature of recent policy harms. “Coming together is not just symbolic… it is strategic.”
Pelton highlighted the Foundation’s efforts to push back against two acute crises: cuts to SNAP benefits and intensified immigration enforcement. He rejected the euphemism “food insecurity,” stating plainly, “There is no such thing as food insecurity. There is hunger, and that is what our neighbors are experiencing.” Since August, the Foundation has helped catalyze more than $8 million in food-related support, he noted, and is expanding its work to defend immigrant rights, fund frontline legal organizations, and elevate research on immigrants’ contributions — including $20 billion in local, state and federal taxes paid annually in Greater Boston.
From there, the conversation shifted to sector advocacy. Jim Klocke, CEO of the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network, warned that nonprofits are confronting not only harmful federal actions — but in many cases actions that remain legal. “Some of the worst federal actions are illegal… but some of them are actually legal,” he said. “Today, it is legal for ICE agents to wear masks… [and] to break down your house or break into your car.” In response, MNN is launching work on a federal reform agenda aimed at preventing such enforcement practices in the future.
The newly released survey by the MassINC Polling Group underscored the severity of the moment. Presenting data from 488 nonprofit leaders across the state, Rich Parr reported that 93 percent believe the country is worse off than a year ago, 72 percent say the same about Massachusetts, and 85 percent believe the people they serve are worse off — a stark indication of escalating need.
Two issues rose above all others: immigration enforcement and the loss of SNAP benefits. “This is a double bind,” Parr explained — household costs continue to rise at the same time federal support is being withdrawn. More than two-thirds of organizations in the poll say demand for services has increased. Yet nonprofits also report diminishing financial stability, with some cutting staff and others pausing programs out of necessity while other strive to expand or launch programs to meet growing and changing needs.
The panel that followed put human faces to the data.
For Tuyen Tran, Executive Director of the Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts, the past year has been defined by fear, trauma, and the struggle to keep staff and community members safe. “Every morning I wake up and I say ‘OMG,’ and then it is intimately replaced with ‘WTF,’” she said, drawing sympathetic laughter from the audience. Safety concerns have reduced program attendance dramatically, she noted.
Agenda
Welcome
M. Lee Pelton, President & CEO, The Boston Foundation
Opening Remarks
Jim Klocke, CEO, The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network
Federal Impacts Survey Results Presentation
Richard Parr, Vice President, The MassINC Polling Group
Panel Discussion and Audience Q&A
Natanja Craig Oquendo, CEO, Boston Women’s Fund
Dr. Kara Young Ponder, Vice President of Knowledge, Impact, and Strategy, National Council of Nonprofits
Tuyet Tran, Executive Director, Southeast Asian Coalition of Central Massachusetts
Moderator: Jim Klocke, CEO, The Massachusetts Nonprofit Network
Closing Remarks
Leigh Handschuh, Senior Program Officer, Nonprofit Sector Infrastructure, The Boston Foundation
Natanja Craig-Oquendo, CEO of the Boston Women’s Fund, described how her organization made the decision to accelerate the draw from its endowment to increase support for grassroots partners. More importantly, she said, the Fund is deepening its relationships with grantees through honest connections about shared anxieties and challenges. CraigOquendo noted danger signs from within philanthropy and corporate sectors, with many institutions retreating from public commitments to equity in the face of threats, but also an opportunity. “[The current environment] does something to our psyches… but this is the opportunity to redesign a system that has never worked for any of us.”
The third panelist, Dr. Kara Young Ponder of the National Council of Nonprofits, described a national climate in which nonprofits are increasingly framed as adversaries. Since early 2025, her organization has sued the federal administration four times, winning two nationwide injunctions to protect funding flows to communities. A recent national poll found that 75% of Republican voters believe nonprofits should be investigated or defunded. “We launched a campaign — Nonprofits Get It Done — to counter these narratives,” Ponder said. She also highlighted the Council’s “Thrive” grants, designed to support nonprofit staff well-being at a moment of widespread burnout. “Burnout is systemic,” she said. “We have to hold that alongside the reality of fewer resources and higher needs.”
Audience questions surfaced additional concerns, including potential federal targeting of nonprofits and the role of corporations, many of which have sharply reduced public commitments to DEI since 2020. Klocke acknowledged the difficult landscape: “Our predictions were accurate… things would get worse, and they have.”
Closing the event, Boston Foundation Senior Program Officer Leigh Handschuh urged attendees not to shy away from discomfort. “When we walk away not fully settled… those are the conditions that can sprout renewed possibility,” she said.
After a year of escalating challenges — and with no relief yet on the horizon — the morning’s program made clear that Massachusetts nonprofits remain determined to meet rising community needs. But it also underscored how urgently they need stronger partnerships, better policy protections, and greater philanthropic flexibility to carry the work forward.