A timely project supported by the United Way of Dane County, the Madison Community Foundation, and the UW-Madison Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies will collect and distill information for stakeholders across sectors to understand and prepare.
Through this project, a core research team will scan available information on policy shifts and anticipated impacts, monitoring phases and developments of executive orders, legislation, and government disruption. The core team will generate reporting through an ongoing process of monitoring policy shifts and publicly-available analysis of impacts, while also conducting dialogue with regional subject matter experts who will provide valuable information about local impacts and responses.
The project will address the following key categories, assessing the impacts on communities and the nonprofits that serve them:
- Basic and Household Needs
- Health
- Education, Childcare, and the Arts
- Workforce and Immigration
- Civic Health and Participation
Please check out our “CURRENT SUMMARY” included below, and our public-access document this public-access document which provides background on policy shifts and anticipated impacts: “Anticipated Impacts of Federal Policy Changes in Wisconsin and Wisconsin Counties,” prepared by the Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies (UW–Madison) and United Way of Dane County. Updated 11/6/2025.
(*updates will be made as we track an evolving situation and more information is gathered)
Please also take our SURVEY which will help us gather information from you, experts with insights in the field:
CURRENT UPDATE as of 11/20/2025
As of November 12, 2025, a continuing resolution was passed by both houses of Congress and signed by President Trump, to end the longest federal government shutdown (43 days) in U.S. history. This legislation continues government funding at current rates through January 30, 2026. As a part of the legislation, the Senate agreed to hear arguments about the continuation of ACA health care subsidies, although no concrete provisions regarding healthcare costs (the stated focus of the shutdown) were agreed to. The 43-day shutdown caused urgent concern regarding federal benefits for basic needs, particularly SNAP. The nonprofit sector and grassroots efforts across Wisconsin mobilized to provide support during cessation of these benefits, creating strain, and raising awareness of the risks of future federal government disruption. The relationship between state government and federal benefits were also highlighted during this time, as Governor Evers made attempts to implement state-based interventions to mitigate the impacts of disruption of federal supports — including proposals to distribute benefits in hope of reimbursement from the feds post shut-down, and to ease limitations on state-based emergency supports for low-income families.
___________________________________________________________
SUMMARY as of 11/6/2025
Anticipating Federal Policy Impacts in Wisconsin: What Nonprofits Need to Know
As the impacts and anticipated impacts of changing federal policies and other action and inaction out of Washington D.C. continue to evolve in 2025, Wisconsin’s nonprofits are feeling the ripple effects across funding streams, service delivery, and community well-being. The Center for Community and Nonprofit Studies (UW–Madison) and United Way of Dane County have instigated an effort to distill what federal policy shifts and related developments could mean for Wisconsin communities and the nonprofits that support them.
This summary highlights potential and ongoing impacts across major policy areas: housing and basic needs, workforce and immigration, education and childcare, health, and civic participation. While the situation remains fluid and evolving, including unknowns with additional policy-making, legal challenges, and effects, we aim to share an overview of what is currently known, to understand and prepare for what’s ahead.
What We’re Seeing So Far
Challenges in the Nonprofit Sector: Disruptions to funding through executive orders in 2025 have challenged ongoing operations of nonprofit organizations. Human services organizations’ activities have been especially at risk, given their reliance on public dollars to meet basic community needs. Proposed challenges to the nonprofit sector regarding policies and activities which identify specific populations or may otherwise be deemed “DEI” and threats to nonprofits’ tax-exempt status have created fear and concern within the sector. Increased needs (food insecurity due to government shut-down) and risk among communities and families served (for example, immigrant populations served) have put more pressure on nonprofits to conduct rapid response and adapt creatively to fill gaps and address urgent need. Philanthropy is seeking ways to support, but the scale of needs and challenges may be too much to cover if federal funding retraction continues and threats increase.
Housing and Basic Needs: The federal government shut-down, ongoing since September 30 – without an emergency plan in effect to maintain SNAP and WIC benefits – has created urgent concern about hunger among Wisconsinites, and puts many Wisconsinites’ ongoing food security at risk. This scenario has also resulted in a robust creative emergency response from community and nonprofit organizations, placing new strain on organizations and the sector attempting to meet those needs.
Executive actions and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) have introduced both opportunities and challenges. While expanded housing tax credits could help families, cuts to key programs threaten to deepen inequities and reduce access to care and food security, especially in rural and low-income areas.
Health care: Enormous cuts to Medicaid and the sunsetting of Affordable Care Act subsidies, along with cuts to rural hospital funding, and challenges to federally qualified health care centers are creating alarm about health care services and coverage for Americans across geographic areas and income levels.
Education and childcare: Early childhood, K–12, and higher education programs are seeing disruption through reduced grants, new administrative requirements, and investigations tied to DEI and curriculum policies. This impacts both families and students, but also the workforce employed in these institutions.
Workforce and immigration: Immigrant members of the Wisconsin workforce are facing new threats due to an uptick in immigration enforcement and investigative activity through ICE. Changes to Visa policy are also impacting industries.
A Living Conversation
This analysis is ever-evolving and reflects what we know as of November 6, 2025. As policies are implemented, challenged, or delayed, their real-world impacts will continue to unfold and so will our understanding. A public-access background document is now available, providing an overview of policy shifts and anticipated impacts. (This document will continue to be updated as more information is gathered and the situation evolves.)
What are you seeing on the ground?
How are these federal shifts showing up in your work, your community, or your organization? In other words, what problems currently concern you, and the people you serve or work with, most?
What other issues and impacts or opportunities should we be tracking together?
Please consider taking our online SURVEY (link included above) to share your insights, local data, or stories so we can continue to build a collective picture of anticipated impacts to Wisconsin communities, and how Wisconsin’s nonprofit sector is affected and responding.