We continue to feel the ripple effects of 2025, a year marked by upheaval and uncertainty. Our team saw deaf organizations and programs dealing with two serious issues:

• Deaf organizations receive less than 1% of the $37.2 billion in grants awarded each year nationally by mainstream funders
• Significant and relentless attacks were being made on the nonprofit sector and disability rights

To better understand the impact of these two issues, we polled deaf organization leaders in spring of 2025. At that time, they were already reporting the following:

Critical moments like these remind us of why Deaf Organizations Fund (DOF) was built. We are dedicated to caring for and protecting our communities. In response to the challenging climate, we collectively raised funds that would allow DOF to double the number of deaf organizations and programs we typically fund in 2026.

Your support also made it possible for us to host two webinars about notable policy shifts affecting the nonprofit sector and the different ways that deaf organizations and programs could move forward. We also launched the Consultant Directory, a pool of professionals with varying areas of expertise, to support the operations of deaf organizations and programs serving the front lines.

For grants offered in 2025, we remained committed to unrestricted, flexible funding. While we continue to make our funding process accessible, we took it a step further by providing our first-ever live grant webinar which was attended by over 115 organizations. We ultimately funded the direct services or operations of four very different, incredibly hard-working deaf organizations – a reflection of our alignment to the principles of trust-based philanthropy. Please read ahead to learn more about the impact they are making in their respective deaf communities.

DOF awarded $25,000 in grant funding to each organization in our 2025 cohort. Each organization also received unrestricted stipends to support additional areas of need, including but not limited to accessing professional development opportunities. Below are brief anecdotes of how these organizations used Impact Grants to address their areas of greatest need:

We sustained and expanded deaf organizations’ access to nonprofit resources:

Deaf Organizations and Programs Directory:
A continually growing list of nonprofits and programs working to meet the needs of deaf communities within the U.S., this directory is searchable by geographic region or cause area. By the end of 2025, this resource had nearly 90 organizations listed.

Consultant Directory:
This directory is another continually expanding list that centralizes nonprofit subject matter experts who identify as members of deaf communities and/or are equipped to provide communication access to leaders of deaf organizations. This directory was set up in summer 2025, and has nearly 20 consultants listed.

DOF Blog:
Our blog is a new communication hub for DOF to share important updates as well as share perspectives from guest writers on topics relevant to nonprofits. We kicked off 2025 with the publication of five blogs, including one written by DOF’s Board President, Christopher Soukup.

Technical Assistance:
DOF provided information and referral by email and Zoom to 100 deaf organizations and programs nationwide.

With the new presidential administration came many changes that impacted nonprofits' operations and ability to maintain funding. To help address the influx of information, we created an ad hoc resource page centralizing accurate and accessible information.

This included up-to-date webinars from trusted sources like National Council on Nonprofits related to federal funding and executive orders impacting nonprofits, along with a community-driven Google document with curated nonprofit resources and strategies from deaf organization leaders.

We also provided accessible webinars; one of which was led by legal and compliance experts on understanding and navigating executive orders, and the other being a panel of deaf organization leaders discussing how they have navigated the nonprofit crisis and its impact.

On April 24, 2025, a panel of deaf leaders along with DOF Executive Director Sasha Ponappa engaged in discussions about the impact of the nonprofit crisis on their organizations.

With the new presidential administration came many changes that impacted nonprofits' operations and ability to maintain funding. To help address the influx of information, we created an ad hoc resource page centralizing accurate and accessible information.

This included up-to-date webinars from trusted sources like National Council on Nonprofits related to federal funding and executive orders impacting nonprofits, along with a community-driven Google document with curated nonprofit resources and strategies from deaf organization leaders.

We also provided accessible webinars; one of which was led by legal and compliance experts on understanding and navigating executive orders, and the other being a panel of deaf organization leaders discussing how they have navigated the nonprofit crisis and its impact.

On April 24, 2025, a panel of deaf leaders along with DOF Executive Director Sasha Ponappa engaged in discussions about the impact of the nonprofit crisis on their organizations.

For as long as DOF has existed, deaf organization leaders have requested that we provide them with opportunities to access training sessions on topics relevant to nonprofits.

We were over the moon to finally be able to meet these gaps in accessible resources through the generous establishment of The Glenn and Martha Wilson Fund. This seed funding allowed DOF to begin the creation of a Training Institute that will consist of multiple series of training sessions and accompanying materials on various nonprofit topics.

Looking ahead, the first set of topics covered in 2026 will include fundraising and grantwriting, and leadership and management. All trainings will be stored in a resource library on DOF's website, and offered free of charge.

In closing, we continue to see that deaf organizations and programs are forced to do more with less. The stark reality is that this will likely continue for months, if not years, to come. If you are inspired by the work we are doing, we encourage you to consider joining the Champions of Deaf Organizations Collective, a community of monthly donors working together to sustain DOF’s work.

The future of our deaf communities and the organizations that serve them depends on how we show up in this moment. Together, we can and must build a resilient deaf nonprofit sector.

Onward,
Sasha, Avi, and Finn