Blog / Trends

Where the Government Steps Back, Business and Philanthropy Can Step Forward Together

by Emily Brenner, Tory Martin, and Anneliese Orr, with research contributions from Lesley Slavitt
Where the Government Steps Back, Business and Philanthropy Can Step Forward Together
11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2026 report coverThis article was first published in our 11 Trends in Philanthropy for 2026 report. Explore the full report here.

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In the 2019 and 2021 Trends reports (Moody, 2019; Moody, 2021), the Johnson Center reflected on “blurring boundaries” between the nonprofit and for-profit sectors, examining the growth of hybrid organizations, cross-over practices, and a social impact economy.

OpenAI’s October 2025 transition from a nonprofit organization to a public benefit corporation, OpenAI Group PBC, is a notable example of how this trend continues today. The original nonprofit is now the OpenAI Foundation, with a 26% stake in OpenAI Group PBC. That stake is valued at $130 billion — a number that “eclipses the $86 billion held by the Gates Foundation, instantly making it one of the most well-funded charities in the world,” as Inside Philanthropy notes (Scutari, 2025).

Yet, business and philanthropy remain distinct sectors. The middle path — running a profitable business and a social mission simultaneously — is not always smooth. In September 2025, Jerry Greenfield, the “Jerry” of Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, resigned from the company he co-founded because, he said, the brand’s social mission was being silenced by their parent company, Unilever. “It was always about more than just ice cream,” Greenfield wrote in his public resignation letter (Greenfield, 2025); “it was a way to spread love and invite others into the fight for equity, justice and a better world.”

Navigating the tension between business goals and social goals is a natural part of any partnership or crossover between these two spheres. However, with the federal government sweeping backwards from the role it has long played in funding the U.S. and global economies[1], both philanthropy and business have much at stake, and much to gain by working together.

New Partnerships for a New Economy

One of the biggest challenges the philanthropic sector now faces is the reality that many of our society’s most urgent crises — homelessness, criminal justice reform, disaster response — do not have existing, proven market solutions.

“One of the biggest challenges the philanthropic sector now faces is the reality that many of our society’s most urgent crises — homelessness, criminal justice reform, disaster response — do not have existing, proven market solutions.”

Take journalism, for instance. The press has struggled for two decades to find a way to support itself through traditional capital mechanisms, and it has continuously come up short. With the 2025 erasure of $1.1 billion in Corporation for Public Broadcasting funding (Reuters, 2025), that is another $1.1 billion the industry is going to need to find somewhere in order to maintain operations. Philanthropy alone cannot fill that gap — not now, and not into the future. If this country wants a free press, it will need to come up with a new way to make it happen.

In the absence of government funding, and with need only rising, the business and philanthropy sectors will need to work together to find creative and innovative ways to sustain vital services. Those seeking solutions will need to think beyond funding alone to consider how other kinds of resources can be leveraged, resources such as the time and talents of students and retirees, the seeds from last year’s garden, junk drawers full of usable school supplies, and the wealth of frameworks and guides that already exist.

Accomplishing something together is what brings us together, far more than dollars alone.

A Threat on the Horizon: Corporate Giving Under a New Tax Code

While there is reason for optimism, changes to the federal tax code signed into law in July 2025 could also make it much harder for philanthropy and business to move forward together as they are now.

Giving by corporations totaled $44.4 billion in 2024, up an inflation-adjusted 6% from 2023 (GivingUSA, 2025). According to GivingUSA, that number includes “cash and in-kind contributions made through corporate giving programs, as well as grants and gifts made by corporate foundations” (p.17) and accounts for 7% of charitable giving (p. 22).

However, that support could now be at risk. Prior to the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) in June 2025, for-profit companies were not allowed to take deductions for charitable contributions exceeding 10% of their taxable income. However, excess contributions could be carried forward over the following five years (Council on Foundations, 2025).

OBBBA introduced a new paradigm, including a 1% floor for corporate charitable deductions. This floor acts as a threshold that businesses must meet before receiving any tax benefits for their charitable giving. The impact of this change on nonprofits could be huge. The Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship estimates it may reduce corporate charitable giving by approximately $45 billion over the next 10 years, while simultaneously generating $16.6 billion in additional tax revenue for the federal government within the same window (Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship, 2025).

“OBBBA introduced a new paradigm, including a 1% floor for corporate charitable deductions. This floor acts as a threshold that businesses must meet before receiving any tax benefits for their charitable giving. The impact of this change on nonprofits could be huge.”

Other estimates also paint a dire picture: the National Council of Nonprofits (NCN) estimates an $81 billion reduction in charitable giving over the next decade due to the 1% floor and other provisions in the new tax code. While NCN does estimate that OBBBA’s universal charitable deduction will generate $74 billion in that time, that still leaves a gap of $7 billion in overall revenue loss for the sector (National Council of Nonprofits, 2025).

Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship states that, “The OBBBA’s 1% floor represents a fundamental shift in how the United States approaches corporate charitable tax incentives … The international evidence suggests this approach is unusual among developed nations and may further reduce social cohesion” (2025).

The bottom line is that funding for vital services that have traditionally come from both the government and business sectors is under threat, and in many cases already disappearing.

Sister Sectors

The potential for partnership is limitless, but how those partnerships will be formed and what they will look like is still unpredictable. Both nonprofits and corporations will likely have to cede some ground and perhaps reinvest in the art of compromise.

But necessity can be the mother of invention. Creativity and imagination are hallmarks of both the nonprofit and business sectors. Dedication to mission and purpose has always been core to our sector, and, in the past decade, we have seen an orientation towards public good adopted much more widely across the business sector as well (Business Roundtable, 2019). While the two sectors remain distinct, our mandate to build and sustain a society is shared. In the absence of a robust government partner, business and philanthropy will need each other more than ever.

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[1] The U.S. federal government’s expenditures in Fiscal Year 2025 amounted to $7.01 trillion (FiscalData.Treasury.gov, n.d.). Our nation’s entire estimated gross domestic product) (GDP) in Fiscal Year 2025 was $30.62 trillion (International Monetary Fund, 2025).

Emily Brenner, M.P.A.
Emily Brenner, M.P.A.
Project Manager
Emily Brenner joined the Johnson Center in 2018 and currently serves as project manager. In this role, she manages the production of The Foundation Review, supports the center’s work with spend-down foundations, and assists with programming across the entire center....
Tory Martin, M.A.
Tory Martin, M.A.
Director, Engagement and Knowledge Building
Tory Martin joined the Johnson Center in October 2017 as director of communications and engagement. In 2022, her role expanded to include strategic partnerships, and in 2025 she was named director of engagement and knowledge-building. Tory responsibilities at the Johnson...
Anneliese Orr
Anneliese Orr
Research Associate
Anneliese Orr joined the Johnson Center as a research associate in May 2025. Before joining the center, she worked as a programs specialist at Feeding America West Michigan where she focused on community program initiatives like the Mobile Food Pantry...

 

REFERENCES

Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship. (2025). The one big beautiful bill and corporate giving. Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship News. https://ccc.bc.edu/content/bc-ccc/news/blogs/one-big-beautiful-bill.html

Business Roundtable. (2019). Business Roundtable redefines the purpose of a corporation to promote an economy that serves all Americans. https://www.businessroundtable.org/business-roundtable-redefines-the-purpose-of-a-corporation-to-promote-an-economy-that-serves-all-americans

Council on Foundations. (2025, July 8). One, big, beautiful bill: Impact on philanthropy. https://cof.org/page/one-big-beautiful-bill-impact-philanthropy

FiscalData.Treasury.gov. (n.d.). How much has the U.S. government spent this year? Retrieved December 3, 2025, from https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/americas-finance-guide/federal-spending/

Greenfield, J. (2025). Jerry’s letter. Free Ben & Jerry’s. https://freebenandjerrys.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/Jerrys-Letter-091625.pdf

Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. (2025). Giving USA 2025: The annual report on philanthropy for the year 2024. Giving USA Foundation. http://www.givingusa.org/

International Monetary Fund. (2025, October). World Economic Outlook (October 2025): 15 indicators, 1980–2030. https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/USA

Moody, M. (2019, January 18). The boundaries are blurring between philanthropy and business. 11 trends in philanthropy for 2019. Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. https://johnsoncenter.org/blog/the-boundaries-are-blurring-between-philanthropy-and-business/

Moody, M. (2021, January 19). It’s getting harder and harder to distinguish philanthropy and business. 11 trends in philanthropy for 2021. Dorothy A. Johnson Center for Philanthropy at Grand Valley State University. https://johnsoncenter.org/blog/its-getting-harder-and-harder-to-distinguish-philanthropy-and-business/

National Council of Nonprofits. (2025). New tax law threatens nonprofits’ ability to serve communities, warns National Council of Nonprofits. https://www.councilofnonprofits.org/pressreleases/new-tax-law-threatens-nonprofits-ability-serve-communities-warns-national-council

Reuters. (2025, August 1). Corporation for Public Broadcasting to close after funding cut, in blow to local media. https://www.reuters.com/world/us/corporation-public-broadcasting-close-after-funding-cut-blow-local-media-2025-08-01/

Scutari, M. (2025). OpenAI now has a foundation. We have some questions. Inside Philanthropy. https://www.insidephilanthropy.com/home/openai-now-has-a-foundation-we-have-some-questions