Nonprofits Fight Trump Insults With Story of Their Own

A new national ad campaign that launched Tuesday aims to rally public support for nonprofits at a time when the sector is facing mounting political and rhetorical threats.

The National Council of Nonprofits launched its digital Nonprofits Get It Done campaign to highlight the everyday impact of charitable organizations and encourage people to contact their lawmakers to defend the sector. The initiative marks a rare, coordinated effort by a nonprofit infrastructure group to engage the broader public and shape policy conversations.

“We don’t have to look far to see a really harmful narrative growing — one that is attempting to malign or harm the nonprofit sector,” said Diane Yentel, CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits. A recent congressional hearing that aimed to vilify nonprofits as corrupt and politicized is just one example, she said.

To counter that narrative, the campaign spotlights nonprofits working every day to feed families, respond to disasters, support youth, care for veterans and seniors, and help survivors of domestic violence. One ad featuring the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank reads: “Who fights hunger with heart? Your local nonprofits.”

The ads will appear across Meta’s biggest platforms, Facebook and Instagram, as well as on LinkedIn and via banner ads on websites and apps. Each directs viewers to a website where they can learn more about what nonprofits do and send a short message to their members of Congress. The message reads in part: “I am counting on you to be a voice for nonprofits, both local and national. Policies that hamper their ability to operate effectively, raise funds, or serve our communities undermine the civil society that makes our nation strong.”

“The work of nonprofits isn’t a partisan issue,” Yentel said. “It’s about protecting the fabric that holds communities together, especially in times of crisis.” A spokeswoman declined to say how much will be spent on the campaign.

The campaign is part of a broader push by the council to elevate its communications strategy since Yentel took the helm in January. The council worked with the creative agency Avoq to develop the campaign.

The initial rollout targets Washington, D.C., and 10 states — Florida, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, Tennessee, and Texas — chosen because they have lawmakers on key congressional committees and because polling indicates a high potential to influence public perception of nonprofits. The council is also working with its network of state nonprofit associations to localize and amplify the campaign’s message.

A Rare Sectorwide Approach

While nonprofits frequently run ad campaigns to advance their specific missions and issues, it’s unusual to see a coordinated effort that spans the entire sector and includes a call to political action, said Peter Panepento, a communications consultant to nonprofits and foundations.

His firm helped develop an advertising campaign for the Community Foundation Awareness Initiative to help those funders articulate what makes them unique. And the Council on Foundations’ Giving Is Here for Good campaign aims to raise awareness of the value of foundations. But those efforts focus more on visibility than on direct advocacy.

“It’s very rare that the sector as a whole comes together to invest in broadscale campaigns that actually have a call to action around advancing public policy,” Panepento said.

He sees this approach as both necessary and overdue.

“This is something the sector should have been doing earlier to validate its position in American society and shape its own narrative,” he said. “It would have been valuable for the field to invest in telling its story.”