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There’s no surprise that stories emanating from Washington, D.C., proved to be the most interesting to readers of The NonProfit Times this past year. It also is not unexpected that revenue was also a top-clicked subject on The NPT’s website. The difference this past year is they often collided and became one and the same.
The story most clicked this year was “New Executive Orders Expected To Reach Throughout The NPO Sector,” which posted on April 21. Was an early warning of how rumors and false flags from the administration can set the sector in a spin. In this case it was a rumor that on Earth Day 2025 executive orders from the White House would target environmental organizations. That didn’t happen.
It is likewise no shocker that the second most clicked story was Potential Executive Orders Against Nonprofits Paused, basically putting many of the rumored orders in a drawer somewhere.
The combo platter of three stories regarding the GoFundMe’s platform setting up fundraising pages for more than one million nonprofits without consent of the organizations and the reversing course all made the top 10 of most clicked stories.
Then it was back to the federal government with Elon Musk’s DOGE taking over grants.gov, the federal grants website. DOGE employees had the power to review and make decisions regarding the awarding of federal grants. The moves were part of a larger effort to limit resources for activities not endorsed by the administration.
Another popular money click, this time for executives and staff, was the always popular The NonProfit Times and Bluewater study of compensation and benefits at more than 700 nonprofits. Salaries had a slick uptick but there were several new benefits noted.
Back to the nation’s capital where legislation putting in peril the exempt status of nonprofits was drafted into legislation. The language was eventually watered down.
The July/August issue of The NonProfit Times unveiled the 28th annual NPT’s Power & Influence Top 50. The honorees were those who resisted, fought and built coalitions to continue to serve their communities, constituents and the overall nonprofit sector despite the chaos from Washington, D.C. The honorees stood tall not just in their service areas but also for the broader sector.
Nonprofit staff are drawn to the sector but that doesn’t mean people won’t have an eye to moving to the next challenge. The data from the organization in the 50 organizations highlighted in the annual NPT’s Best Nonprofits To Work For showed staff still loved their work, just not as much as they did the year prior.
You would think something about AI would be the most clicked tech story. Nope. It was Microsoft shutting down some donated licenses for nonprofits. Microsoft will no longer offer donated licenses for its Microsoft 365 Business Premium and Office 365 E1, in a blow to nonprofits that have been working with the products via a granted use. Data could have been lost if not saved elsewhere or switched to a different Microsoft product.
Rounding out the top stories was a how-to column on managing the risks when it comes to DEI initiatives. Executive Orders from the federal government raised concerns among nonprofit executives about the legality of both legacy and emerging DEI efforts and the status of their organizations’ funding secured through federal grants, cooperative agreements, contracts, and loans.
There are a couple of weeks left in the year. We’ll be watching. Please keep clicking.
