Sara Herschander

New York

Breaking News Reporter at The Chronicle of Philanthropy

Journalist at Freelance

reporter @philanthropy · words in @wagingnv @capitalandmain @documentedny · she/they · 💌 [email protected]

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Articles

How a Single Instagram Post Cost One Nonprofit a Quarter of Its Budget

3 weeks ago | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander

When three Wellspring Philanthropic Fund executives appeared on her Zoom screen — strangers she’d never met before — Irma Shauf-Bajar, executive director of 18 Million Rising, knew something was wrong. When a progressive group posted in support of Palestinians in Gaza, it saw funding evaporate. Similar fissures are reverberating across the nonprofit world. “This is not going to be an easy meeting,” one began.
10,000 Job Cuts in 70 Days. Introducing the Nonprofit Layoff Tracker

1 month ago | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander |Tamara Straus |Alex Daniels |Elizabeth Haugh

At the end of last year, nonprofits were facing a wave of program cuts, layoffs, and closures as inflation, declining donations, and other forces hit budgets. Now, the Trump administration is aggressively cutting federal funding that many organizations rely on. What is the toll on the sector as a whole?
Here’s What It Takes to Be a Development Director

1 month ago | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander

Plus, join us tomorrow to learn about data privacy in the age of AI
How Data Subpeonas and Online Mobs Are Silencing Progressive Nonprofits

1 month ago | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander

Just two months into the second Trump administration, death threats, doxing, and government subpoenas have become a frightening routine for progressive nonprofits. Elon Musk posts have triggered waves of online harassment. Federal agencies have demanded confidential client records from nonprofits that serve immigrants. And coordinated cyberattacks have crashed the websites of global human rights groups and nonprofit news sites.
How Data Subpoenas and Online Harassment Are Silencing Many Nonprofits

1 month ago | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander

Just two months into the second Trump administration, death threats, doxing, and government subpoenas have become a frightening routine for progressive nonprofits. Elon Musk posts have triggered waves of online harassment. Federal agencies have demanded confidential client records from nonprofits that serve immigrants. And coordinated cyberattacks have crashed the websites of global human rights groups and nonprofit news sites.
Even Tech-Savvy Foundations Are Uncertain How to Fund AI

2 months ago | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander

Most foundations don’t know how to evaluate and fund artificial intelligence projects, even as the technology rapidly transforms society, according to a new survey. Nearly two-thirds of program officers lacked confidence in their ability to assess AI-related proposals at major grant makers like the Gates Foundation, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, and Annie E. Casey Foundation, according to a March 5 report by research nonprofit Project Evident.
For Nonprofits, Trump’s Cuts Echo Reagan Era, but With Striking Differences

2 months ago | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander

Federal funding seemed to vanish overnight. Mass layoffs and desperate appeals from charities soon followed, beseeching donors to “pick up the slack.” Headlines blared dire warnings about nonprofits on the verge of a nervous breakdown: “Budget cuts deal charities double blow.”The year was not 2025, but 1981. In the name of balancing the federal budget, the Reagan administration unleashed sweeping budget cuts that defunded nonprofit programs and caused layoffs at organizations across the nation.
How Philanthropy Built, Lost, and Could Reclaim the A.I. Race

Feb 11, 2025 | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander

“How do we know you won’t pull an OpenAI?” It’s the question Stella Biderman has gotten used to answering when she seeks funding from major foundations for EleutherAI, her two-year-old nonprofit A.I. lab that has developed open-source artificial intelligence models. The irony isn’t lost on her.
Nonprofits Dependent on Federal Grants Scramble Amid Mixed Signals From White House and Federal Judge

Feb 4, 2025 | philanthropy.com | Alex Daniels |Sara Herschander

A federal judge Monday kept the path open for federal payments to a wide swath of contractors, including nonprofits, by continuing to block a payments freeze that was put into effect by an Office of Management and Budget memo last week and then rescinded.
Donors More Optimistic About Economy, Survey Finds

Jan 21, 2025 | philanthropy.com | Sara Herschander

Just weeks after the presidential election, a new survey captured a surge in economic confidence among everyday donors, even if their giving hasn’t caught up to the shifting mood just yet. The share of donors expecting economic improvement in the next 12 months leaped to 39 percent in November from 24 percent in January, according to Dunham+Company’s latest Donor Confidence Survey, marking the highest level of donor optimism since 2021.