FILE - People take part in the "So Much Together" workshop organized by Oregon Humanities in Oregon in 2025. The nonprofit loses half its income as Trump administration cuts National Endowment for the Humanities grants.
Rozzell Medina
The nonprofit Oregon Humanities was stunned Thursday after learning its grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities was abruptly cut.
“We’re going to have very hard decisions to make, both about programs, staffing and I think looking forward,” said Adam Davis, executive director of Oregon Humanities.
The nonprofit has been around since 1971 and employs 14 full-time staff. It facilitates tough conversations aimed at bringing people together. For example, it just held a meeting at the library in Prineville to talk about gun ownership. Another meeting is scheduled for Pendleton to talk about public lands with the former head of the National Park Service.
Davis said the loss of the national grant amounts to about $1 million, which is almost half of the nonprofits’ yearly expenditure.
“There’s a lot of distress and anger, and I would say sadness about the possibility that this might scale back,” Davis said.
The loss of federal support is expected to have a devastating effect on the nonprofits’ ability to serve, and the same is true of the 55 other humanities councils operating around the country, which have seen similar cuts.
“The prospect of there being few of these kinds of programs, rather than more of them, given the moment we’re in, is not a happy prospect for many people across the state,” Davis said.
Related: Trump administration halts millions of dollars in deliveries to Oregon food banks
The Trump administration has said it is cutting federal funding for many organizations in an effort to reduce taxes and the national debt.
Millions of dollars in previously awarded federal grants intended for arts and cultural groups across the country are being canceled by the Trump administration, according to a National Endowment for the Humanities senior official who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they’re not authorized to speak publicly.
The funds had been awarded through a competitive application process and, according to the official, covered grants from fiscal years 2021-2025. The official said that “no upcoming awards” will be made in fiscal year 2025.
According to the official, Acting NEH Chair Michael McDonald told senior staff that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), a team within the executive branch dedicated to reducing government spending, “wants to claw back $175 million” in grant money that has not yet been disbursed. It is not clear if that is the true amount of undisbursed funds, or an estimation by DOGE staff.
On Monday, DOGE told NEH staff that it would lay off a substantial number of employees and cut its grant programs, as first reported by The New York Times.
The NEH has not responded to a request for comment from NPR.