Every day, Emergency Food Network (EFN) works alongside food pantries, meal programs, schools, local governments, tribal partners, and hundreds of community organizations to ensure our neighbors have access to food. That work depends upon strong partnerships. It also depends upon stable, predictable rules governing how federal funding reaches the organizations that serve our communities.
Those rules are now at risk.
What’s Being Proposed:
The Office of Management and Budget has proposed sweeping changes to the Uniform Guidance, the regulations governing most federal grants awarded to nonprofits, state and local governments, tribal governments, and many other public-serving organizations. These rules affect far more than grant paperwork. They shape whether organizations can confidently hire staff, build partnerships, respond during disasters, and make long-term commitments to the people who depend upon them.
This issue reaches well beyond EFN. Every day, organizations enter into grant agreements with the expectation that if they meet the requirements of the award, they can count upon the funding that Congress approved. They hire staff, purchase supplies, sign leases, invest in equipment, and build long-term partnerships around those commitments. The proposed regulations would fundamentally change that relationship.
According to the National Council of Nonprofits’ analysis, federal agencies could:
Gain broad authority to suspend grants for up to 90 days while considering termination.
End grants because agency priorities or interpretations of the “national interest” have changed.
Add new conditions after a grant has already been awarded.
Expand political review throughout the grantmaking process.
Organizations could do everything they agreed to do and still lose the funding on which those services depend.
What It Could Mean for Our Communities:
For EFN, that could mean disruption to the partnerships that move food from farms, manufacturers, and government programs into neighborhood food pantries. For other organizations, it could mean delaying the hiring of staff, scaling back services, postponing capital improvements, or deciding that accepting federal funding has become too unpredictable to justify the financial risk.
The effects would not stop with nonprofits. Cities, counties, tribal governments, public health agencies, schools, community colleges, housing providers, disaster response organizations, and conservation districts all rely upon the same federal grant framework. When those organizations cannot depend upon stable grant agreements, they become less able to make long-term commitments, respond quickly during emergencies, and deliver the services their communities expect. The people who pay the price are the families who rely upon those services.
At EFN, we believe communities are strongest when government, nonprofits, businesses, and neighbors work together. Changes that undermine trust and predictability within that system threaten more than individual organizations. They threaten the ability of entire communities to respond when families need help most.
Regardless of political affiliation, every community benefits from clear rules, accountable government, and reliable partnerships. Whether your favorite organization serves children, veterans, seniors, animals, parks, the arts, housing, disaster recovery, or food security, its ability to plan, operate, and serve could be affected by these proposed changes.
What You Can Do:
The public comment period is open through July 13, 2026. Every comment becomes part of the public record and helps policymakers understand how these changes would affect communities across the country.
Please take a few minutes to learn about the proposal and submit a public comment.
Learn More:
- National Council of Nonprofits Resource Center: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/trends-and-policy-issues/omb-uniform-guidance
- Summary of the proposed changes: https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/files/media/documents/2026/2026-chart-omb-uniform-proposed-changes.pdf
Submit a public comment:
Step-by-step guide (includes the official federal submission link): https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/files/media/documents/2026/2026-proposed-omb-uniform-guidance-comment-guide.pdf
Strong communities require strong partnerships. Those partnerships deserve clear rules, consistent expectations, and the stability necessary to serve every person who turns to them.