Playing Defense, Building Coalitions, Leaders Guarding Civil Society
By Paul Clolery
“Mandate For Leadership 2025: The Conservative Promise,” also known as Project 2025, Presidential Transition Project is a detailed libretto for a very dark opera, especially for nonprofits. It contains multi-scene acts that upend Washington, D.C. specifically, the United States broadly, and the underpinnings of the world’s civil society and social safety net as a whole.
It is a 900+-page script from which a horror reality series was constructed. Some executives chose to believe the plans would never be fulfilled, ignoring the steps that had been taken backstage to prepare for its implementation. Other leaders began preparing for their organizations’ survival amid potential worst-case scenarios.
And then there are this year’s The NonProfit Times’ Power & Influence Top 50 honorees, who resisted, fought and built coalitions to continue to serve their communities, constituents and the overall nonprofit sector.
Some actions against the sector seemed deliberately designed to provoke panic, such as the talk about a potential Executive Order targeting environmental organizations on Earth Day. There’s no doubt that idea was leaked into the nonprofit community to test reaction. But there are so many other actions that also required a response — from attacking education, to reducing food assistance abroad and rolling out other draconian measures stateside — to every aspect of nonprofit life, all the way down to the threat to decertify nonprofit status.
The Power & Influence Top 50 honorees have stood tall not just in their service areas but also to the broader sector.
This is why there are 21 individuals this year who had previously not been included in the Power & Influence Top 50. Three of this year’s honorees had previously been on the list but not recently. Women outnumber men among the honorees, 27 to 23.
The honorees will gather at the National Press Club in September for the 20th annual The NPT Power & Influence Top 50 Gala. This is the 28th annual list. The gala was launched because many of the honorees’ paths had never crossed and several suggested the group be pulled together for a night.
Gala sponsors renew year-after-year, although their corporate names have evolved over time. The sponsors for this year’s gala include Bloomerang, Data Axle Nonprofit, Han Group, JMT Consulting, Momentive Software and Moore.
The honorees will receive their awards at the event and Influencer of the Year will be revealed.
Click here to discover the 2025 NPT Power & Influence Top 50 …..
