Why we’re slow to help nonprofits (and what to do about it)

The U.S. nonprofit sector is in a state of emergency. According to the Center for Effective Philanthropy’s (CEP) report A Sector in Crisis, nearly 70% of nonprofits reported a decrease in funding in 2025, even as two-thirds saw increased demand for services. With layoffs up fivefold, the sector is also facing an “invisible job crisis.”

Yet, few people seem to be paying attention, let alone sounding the alarm. A Give.org survey found only 32% of respondents knew federal funding to charities was cut, 43% of Gen Alpha thought it had increased, and 36% would have given more if they’d known of the cuts.

Even within the sector, there’s ambivalence as to whether it’s an emergency, with some philanthropic leaders taking a “wait and see” approach. This is not a coincidence. Decades of research on the “bystander effect” suggest our current circumstances have primed us to do nothing. And that’s a problem.

What is the bystander effect?

The bystander effect refers to people’s reluctance to offer help in public; the more “bystanders” there are, the less likely they are to act. A 1968 study found 75% of subjects left alone in a room reacted to smoke coming in through a vent (investigating, calling for help, leaving), compared with 38% when there were others in the room and just 10% when others ignored the smoke.

The current crisis exhibits all the conditions that increase the bystander effect: People are distracted, the situation is ambiguous, it’ s unclear who should act, we’re in unknown territory, and the potential risk of helping is high. The good news is there are ways to get people off the sidelines.

Five ways to counter the bystander effect

1. Get people’s attention

People tend not to notice emergencies when they’re concerned about other issues. Despite the impact of the dismantling of USAID, cuts and delays in federal grants and contracts and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program disruptions, the deluge of policy changes makes it hard to focus on what’s happening in the nonprofit sector—or what it means for the average American.

Social media campaigns can cut through the noise, capture attention, and spark conversation. For example, the 2014 Ice Bucket Challenge helped raise awareness of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and over $220 million in donations.

2. Make the state of emergency clear

Most nonprofits rely on funding from multiple sources, so it’s unclear how badly they’ll be affected when one source dries up. And since the IRS takes about two years to release Forms 990, it’s hard to see the financial impact in real time—and the longer people don’t react, the less it seems like an emergency.

To counter that misperception, we need to clearly demonstrate the size and impact of the crisis. The CEP report does this by naming the issue (“a sector in crisis”) and sharing statistics, shifting the debate from whether there is a crisis to what we can do about it. Similarly, Candid offers publicly accessible data dashboards showing how long nonprofits can survive without government grants and how many jobs are at risk.

3. Be specific about who should help and how

Research suggests people are less likely to help when others are present because they assume 1) someone else will act and 2) others’ lack of action means it’s not an emergency. Many private foundations have been slow to increase funding, arguing it’s not their job to replace government support. Others argued individual donors will step up, but individual donors declined in 2025.

It helps to explicitly name who should help and how, with a clear call to action, as the MacArthur Foundation did with its call for foundations to increase payout rates.

4. Make it personal

Research suggests we’re quicker to help those we know well or view as similar to ourselves. A 2023 survey found that only 5.4% of Americans believed they or a family member used nonprofit services in the past year, even though the vast majority use them on a regular basis.

To get the public to advocate for the sector, we first need to make it clear that the defunding of nonprofits will negatively impact their lives.

5. Emphasize the cost of doing nothing

Finally, people may not help if they believe the risks outweigh the rewards. CEP found foundations’ top concerns regarding the sector crisis included their own financial (50%) and legal risks (46%).

We need to emphasize that the cost of doing nothing is greater. Such costs could include public pressure to act; or simply illustrating the cost of inaction, as Independent Sector CEO Dr. Akilah Watkins did in asking us to imagine America without a nonprofit sector.

It will take all of us to defend the sector. Nonprofits can help Americans understand what’s at stake by countering misperceptions and telling their story clearly and effectively with compelling data, transparency, and input from communities.

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