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As the Trump administration’s demolition of our civic institutions proceeds, there is little attention paid to the human impact these cuts will have on the government workers who are being summarily dismissed.
Having been conditioned for decades to believe that these workers are “faceless bureaucrats” and leeches living off our hard-earned tax dollars, it comes as a bit of surprise to those paying attention that many of them actually do have faces. As well as families.
And another surprise. A dim, but growing awareness, that these workers possess real skills, ones that we need to keep the country functioning. They include things like enforcing federal environmental regulations, delivering health care to veterans, fostering economic development and providing disaster relief. Maybe not as valuable as running a hedge fund or private equity firm, or having a talk show on right-wing television, but still pretty important.
And still another big surprise: a lot of them work in Milwaukee and Wisconsin, not in Washington, D.C. Who knew? Maybe they are not all leeches.
Next, there is the private sector. Where the “real” jobs and workers are. Where the really smart people, “the businessmen,” operate. Private sector workers are, – more or less – actual people. So, when a “reduction in force” is needed, there is some level of awareness that there may be some “disruption,” for these workers and their families.
Finally, there is the third sector, the least visible one, the nonprofit sector. In many ways, it – and those it serves – are the most vulnerable to the current gutting of the federal government and the assault on the nation’s social programs.
The nonprofit service sector is a sprawling world, one that includes large, established, national organizations and a vast universe of small, often fragile, but invaluable community-based groups. Readers of NNS are familiar with many of them.
The context
To understand what is happening, some historic context is essential. In American history, there have been three big waves of social progress. The first was defined by the Declaration of Independence, “all men are created equal,” We are citizens, not “subjects” or property of the Lord of the Manor.
Wave two, triggered by the Great Depression, was that people have basic economic rights. We don’t let people starve or die in the street. The New Deal laws largely defined this second wave. And, in many ways, Wisconsin and Milwaukee became models for driving it forward, especially with respect to improving the lives of working people.
Progress never goes in a straight line. For starters, each of these first two waves excluded large groups of people, most notably one-half of the population, women, along with racial minorities, gay people and those with disabilities. A little-known example: President Roosevelt could only get Social Security passed by excluding most Black people to secure the support of Southern Dixiecrats.
Once underway, each of these waves of progress triggered a powerful reactionary movement, with Milwaukee and Wisconsin once again playing outsized roles.
In describing the impact of reaction, the philosopher Alfred North Whitehead said, almost exactly 100 years ago, “It is the first step in sociological wisdom to recognize that the major advances in civilization are processes which all but wreck the societies in which they occur . . . “
The third, most recent, wave of progress was led by the 20th century movements by the previously excluded groups: civil rights, women’s rights, gay rights and the rights of those with disabilities. Inevitably, their success triggered the powerful reactionary movement that is now in its climactic and most destructive phase.
At the center of the storm
In fundamental ways, the nonprofit world will be at the center of that destruction.
The current reactionary movement started with “white backlash” in the 1960s. With Donald Trump as its frontman and the Republican Party as its vehicle, reaction is on the verge of an extraordinary negative achievement. All with the active support of Wisconsin Republicans and the state’s far-right institutions and super-rich extremists.
Women, Black people and LGBTQ people are “being put back in their place,” and hard-earned tax dollars will no longer be wasted on people with disabilities. But, there’s even more.
Unless there is a dramatic reversal, we are likely to experience a historic trifecta: the wiping out of the advances made in all three waves of progress., including the fundamental rights associated with being a citizen and the notion that people have basic economic rights.
This disaster is unfolding in what is already the most unequal major country on Earth. The United States shares an income and wealth profile with only three other large nations: Russia, Brazil and Mexico.
That profile: a tiny sliver of super-rich people at the very top, another sliver of rich ones, declining and increasingly insecure middle and working classes, and, at the bottom, entrenched poverty. Wisconsin is a pretty good reflection of that unhappy profile.
The sector that serves humanity
Which brings us back to the not-for-profit services sector. These groups most important role is in serving those historically excluded groups, and, in particular, those at the bottom, poor people. These are the groups that Scrooge in “A Christmas Carol”referred to as the “surplus population.” The nonprofit sector that serves them was once sarcastically described as “the good intentions paving company.”
The groups at the bottom, poor, with large numbers of homeless, hungry or food insecure, mentally ill, disabled, addicted and legally incompetent people, are America’s surplus populations.
And it has been the assignment of the nonprofit sector to “help” them. But, even more important, to pacify them and to keep them out of sight so that they don’t annoy, threaten or make those hard-working tax payers feel guilty. For these purposes, government and philanthropies “fund” nonprofit groups and organizations.
In these decades, as inequality has increased, growing numbers of non-poor, but economically insecure and stressed, individuals and families are also being served by these agencies. For example, food banks now serve significant numbers of employed workers and their families.
Because many of those served are poor, or even destitute, direct payment for services is nonexistent, as is insurance coverage.
So, any successful “business model” for the nonprofit groups serving them relies on third-party support. Those third parties are government, philanthropy and, to a more limited extent, corporations.
Consequences
This financial reality leads straight to another: Without that funding, the federal government’s withdrawal being the critical factor, the nonprofit sector will not only face decline, but the distinct possibility of collapse. That decline, already underway, will have dire consequences for the lives of many of those that are served by nonprofits.
Not to mention the impact on the lives of those who work in them, and their families.
Unlike those in the business world, most people who work in nonprofits go into these fields less motivated by money and more by a commitment to doing something good and helping people.
In many cases, they are literally committed to what they consider doing God’s work: feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, housing the homeless, protecting the stranger. And, in most instances, they earn less than those in either the private sector or government for doing comparable work.
It is no surprise that the current leaders of the United States government and their allies view those workers with open contempt. And putting them in the street is of as little consequence as eliminating the programs that serve their loser clients.
Out of sight, out of mind
It is an irony of the first order that a government that now openly labels itself Christian, albeit “Christian nationalist,” is gutting those very programs and services that reflect Jesus’ revolutionary message of peace, love, justice and inclusion. And that cruelty, rather than love, is rapidly emerging as an acceptable national value.
Much of the work of these nonprofits is done in neighborhoods that those who count rarely, if ever, see. To them, these groups are abstractions. They are the ones with a “the” in front: the homeless, the Blacks, the gays, etc.
Since they are all abstractions, it doesn’t matter much if it’s little kids who will die in Africa because Trump is ending foreign health assistance, or the hungry person in an isolated “urban” neighborhood who is facing extreme hunger because Trump’s and Elon Musk’s troops are cutting off deliveries to food banks. Near or far, it is out of sight and out of mind.
Except for the truly sainted, the commitment to doing good and serving the unserved only goes so far. Not-for-profit service organizations have faced decades of stagnant funding.
In cities like Milwaukee, usually just enough to keep them afloat. Giving up hope is a gradual process. And, as Tolstoy presciently – and sadly – said in Anna Karenina, “There are no conditions that a person cannot become accustomed to, especially if they see everyone around them living in the same way.”
In economic downturns and times of uncertainty or turmoil, nonprofits invariably face a “double whammy”: increasing demand for their services and cuts in their budgets. Typically, the federal government steps in to provide some relief, as it did during the Great Depression and the COVID pandemic. Not this time.
“On the ground,” even after just these few months, the impacts of Trump’s cruelty are already evident. In different cities, important agencies, large and small, closing or downsizing with no replacements for what are, in reality, essential services.
Increasing numbers of hungry and food insecure people, now including those going hungry out of fear of being rounded up at a food distribution site.
“On the ground” in poor countries that depend on American aid, most delivered by dedicated staffs of nonprofits, the consequences have been immediate and profound.
Profound indifference
What is obvious to even the casual observer is the profound indifference of the Trump administration, elected Wisconsin Republicans and the MAGA base to the effects of these cuts on those they have successfully “otherized” in recent years.
If there is a first step in understanding the importance of this issue and the work of these vital nonprofit groups and agencies, it may come from getting media attention to what they do.
Along with some understanding of what is coming and of the reality that those “otherized” people are, in fact, people. That will best come from hearing the voices of non-profit workers. These workers are realists, but, for the vast majority, they are people who have never lost their sense of humanity or empathy.
It may be too much to hope for in the current toxic environment, but it is possible that a portion of the population could begin to think, “There but for the grace of God . . .” And also put themselves in the place of those nonprofit workers. And, hopefully, to share that sense of humanity and empathy.
Frank Schneiger is the founder and president of Frank Schneiger and Associates., a planning and change management company serving the nonprofit and public service sectors.
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