TLG Managing Partner Jeff Tenenbaum Quoted in Chronicle of Philanthropy Article, “‘Keep Your Money!’ Some Nonprofits Push Back on Federal Funding Freezes; Others Take a Quiet Approach”

TLG Managing Partner Jeff Tenenbaum is quoted in the Chronicle of Philanthropy article entitled, “‘Keep Your Money!’ Some Nonprofits Push Back on Federal Funding Freezes; Others Take a Quiet Approach.” “Both the San Francisco AIDS Foundation and Advocates for Youth are outliers, said Jeff Tenenbaum, a lawyer who represents nonprofits. Most nonprofits with federal grants and contracts are taking a wait-and-see approach, as the status of federal funding remains fluid, and the constitutionality of Trump’s executive orders is argued in the courts. Because they receive a relatively small portion of their overall revenue from the federal government, both nonprofits have a lower risk profile than nonprofits that get the lion’s share of their budget from Washington, Tenenbaum said, adding that he has a client almost entirely dependent on federal awards that is now out of business. Over the longer term, even if Trump’s executive orders are swatted down by the courts, Tenenbaum sees less federal cash headed to nonprofits, particularly those that work on issues counter to the administration’s policies. In that sense, Tenenbaum said, Advocates for Youth’s decision to send back federal dollars is probably a “smart business decision” because it is unlikely the promised funds will actually come through. “The administration is going to do everything in its power, everything that the courts will allow, to terminate every single grant, cooperative agreement, and contract that funds these sorts of priorities,” Tenenbaum said.”