February 2025

Request

We urge Congress to oppose the withholding of federal funds legally promised to nonprofit grantees, including museums.

Status

On January 27, 2025, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), an office of the Executive Office of the President of the United States, ordered a pause to the disbursement of federal grants, to take effect the following day. The OMB released a second memo clarifying the order, stating that it was necessary to implement President Donald Trump’s recent executive orders. The pause was stayed in federal court on January 28. The following day, the OMB retracted the initial memo, but White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt stated that efforts to freeze federal funding would continue anyway. On January 31, a second federal district judge, John J. McConnell Jr., held that there was a likelihood that the funding freeze violated the United States Constitution and U.S. law and issued a temporary order blocking its implementation in 22 states and the District of Columbia. On February 10 McConnell found the administration had violated his order halting a sweeping federal funding freeze and ordered the government to “immediately restore frozen funding.” Litigation is ongoing.

AAM has created a resource page with updates on this issue.

Talking Points

• Congress must insist that executive agencies honor their obligations to disburse funds for grants made in accordance with Congressional appropriations.
• Grants and contracts already awarded under the review criteria in effect at the time should continue uninterrupted consistent with the budgets, guidance, and requests issued by Congress when those grants were awarded.
• Changing the criteria after the fact is unfair and unreasonable to the nonprofit organizations, including museums, which responded to valid program solicitations and notices of funding opportunities issued in previous years. This is also consistent with the budgets, guidance, and requests issued by Congress at the time those grants were awarded.
• If federal funding ends or is drastically cut, important museum work would be curtailed or stopped; staff would be cut, via layoffs, furloughs, reduced hours, or hiring freezes; buildings would not be updated and construction would be left half-finished; and some museums would be at risk of closing.
• Wide cuts to federal funding has significant ripple effects, including on state and local funding. Fundraising will become more difficult as philanthropy spreads thin to cover activities that were previously federally funded. Should other community organizations (including schools) lose funding, they may be forced to reduce their partnerships with museums on programs, such as school visits.
• In a recent survey, 63% of museums said their museum currently receives federal grants, awards, or contracts, either directly from the federal government and/or via a state or locality.
• Of museums that are slated to receive federal funding, they will lose $598,685 on average if these appropriated funds are revoked.
• Funding from specific federal agencies:
  • Of museums that currently receive federal funding, 59% currently receive funds from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) or expect to in the future. Of museums that are slated to receive funding from IMLS, they will lose $189,008 on average to a maximum of $1,550,000 if these appropriated funds are revoked.
  • Of museums that currently receive federal funding, 36% currently receive funds from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) or expect to in the future. Of museums that are slated to receive funding from the NEA, they will lose $50,962 on average to a maximum of $380,000 if these appropriated funds are revoked.
  • Of museums that currently receive federal funding, 41% currently receive funds from the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) or expect to in the future. Of museums that are slated to receive funding from the NEH, they will lose $155,491 on average to a maximum of $1 million if these appropriated funds are revoked.
  • Of museums that currently receive federal funding, 13% currently receive funds from the National Science Foundation (NSF) or expect to in the future. Of museums that are slated to receive funding from the NSF, they will lose $882,874 on average to a maximum of $6 million if these appropriated funds are revoked.
• Additional federal agencies that museums receive federal funding from that is at risk of loss and damage to the communities museums serve: National Park Service, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Federal Emergency Management Agency, AmeriCorps, Department of Education, National Archives, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Department of the Interior, US Forest Service, Department of Energy, Economic Development Administration, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Department of Commerce, Department of Homeland Security, United States Geological Survey, National Institutes of Health, and US Fish & Wildlife Service. This support represents the broad scope of services museums provide to their communities and society, from conservation to economic development.
• Of museums that currently receive federal funding, 49% report that they anticipate having to lay off staff if they do not receive the federal funding that has been allocated to their museum. These museums anticipate having to lay off 6 staff members on average to a maximum of 150.
• If federal funding were cut to museums that currently receive it, these museums would be forced to cut back on services for schools and/or children (64.2%), rural communities (36%), the elderly (26%), individuals with disabilities (24%), and veterans (19%).