How Funders Can Support Strategic Partnerships in a Time of Crisis

Nonprofits across the country are facing extraordinary pressure as the political landscape grows more volatile. The second Trump administration has brought sweeping funding cuts to public agencies and nonprofit programs, coupled with increased restrictions on advocacy and service delivery. In this high-stakes environment, many nonprofits — especially those serving vulnerable and marginalized communities — are being forced to rethink how they operate, deliver impact, and sustain their missions.

For funders, this moment demands more than business as usual. Strategic partnerships — including mergers, asset transfers, joint ventures, and programmatic or administrative alliances — can be powerful tools to help nonprofits not only survive political and economic shocks, but adapt and lead with focused resilience. The philanthropic sector is critical to encouraging, resourcing, and de-risking these efforts.

Why Strategic Partnerships Are Crucial Now

Strategic partnerships have long been a pathway to increase efficiency, scale, and sustainability — but today they can also be a response to existential threats. When public funding evaporates or entire programmatic or issue areas come under attack, partnerships can:

• Preserve critical services by combining resources and infrastructure
• Create new power and visibility through alignment and shared voice
• Position organizations to continue advocacy even under restrictive conditions
• Ensure that programs and staff continue even if a single organization cannot

Our experience at La Piana Consulting, supporting over 500 nonprofit mergers and alliances, shows that successful partnerships are rooted not in desperation, but in clarity of purpose, shared values, and trust-based leadership.

Funders Must Lead with Courage and Care

Many funders are aware that their grantees are under strain. But without intentional, explicit support and permission to explore structural change, nonprofits may not feel they can act. Funders can play a powerful role by helping grantees move from reactive to strategic by:

1. Creating Safe Space for Exploration
   In today’s climate, nonprofits may fear that discussing restructuring will be perceived as weakness. Funders can help reframe these explorations as signs of strength, long-term thinking, and stewardship of mission. Normalize the conversation: it’s not “giving up,” it’s “leading forward.”
2. Funding the Process, Not Just the Result
   Exploring strategic restructuring takes time, trust, and expertise. Whether the outcome is a merger, an asset transfer, or a shared back-office alliance, the exploration process itself has value. Funders should consider providing dedicated support for partner assessment, due diligence, facilitation, legal and financial assessments, and integration planning, even when the outcome is uncertain. This can also help nonprofits free up capacity and justify the time key leaders will need to spend on this process.
3. Helping Address Power Imbalances
   Particularly in a politically charged environment, the risks of perceived hierarchy or forced partnerships increase. Funders can help ensure that conversations about partnerships are equitable by offering neutral facilitators, modeling transparent communication, and encouraging all parties to define clear costs and benefits. Funders should be mindful of their role and not be seen as influencing the process.

What to Ask Grantees Right Now

If you’re sensing that a grantee may be under strain — or just thinking proactively about sustainability — here are some open, supportive questions to consider:

• “What are the biggest threats to your work under the current administration?”
• “Are there organizations you could partner with to amplify your voice or extend your impact?”
• “Would it be helpful to explore your strategic partnership options with support from a neutral expert?”

This isn’t about pushing partnerships or mergers. It’s about inviting organizations to consider a full range of adaptive strategies, including collaborations that may not require legal integration but can still build power and resilience.

Don’t Wait for a Crisis to Become a Collapse

When organizations delay difficult decisions, they lose options. The most successful restructuring efforts begin while there’s still time, capacity, and goodwill to make thoughtful choices. You cannot pursue your mission if you go out of business.

And if a nonprofit dissolves, all the cumulative investment of funders goes away, versus preserving some assets and/or intellectual property through some form of partnership.

For funders, this means supporting nonprofits before they reach the edge — and in this era that might come suddenly. Help grantees assess their strengths and gaps. Encourage bold thinking. Resource the exploration. And always center mission impact, not organizational or leadership ego, as the ultimate measure of success.