Nonprofits rethink funding playbook

Some Central Ohio nonprofits are turning to new business ventures and deeper community partnerships as federal funding cuts, inflation and shifting corporate giving habits squeeze already-tight budgets.

Why it matters: Leaders at YWCA Columbus, Festa and Mid-Ohio Food Collective are responding to tighter budgets and increased demand — from pursuing new revenue streams to leaning harder on individual donors.

• "Right now, it does feel like an enormous shift is taking place," Kim Emch, founder of Columbus-based Festa, tells Axios. "It's causing us as nonprofits to think really critically and strategically."

Follow the money: YWCA Columbus is leaning more heavily on private giving as corporate donations shift and federal grants become harder to secure.

• About 20% of the organization's roughly $15 million budget comes from corporate and individual giving.
• Most remaining revenue comes through government grants and income generated from services.

"Federal grants haven't necessarily dried up, but they're more restrictive," says advancement and engagement officer Makiva McIntosh.

Corporations have also become more cautious about where they donate, says McIntosh, whose organization focuses on racial equity and women's empowerment.

YWCA Columbus shifted staff roles to focus on attracting and retaining individual donors.

• YWCA worked with previously recognized women to pool donations and become presenting sponsors of its largest annual fundraiser.
• "Private donors tend to be more committed to organizations like ours that align with their values," McIntosh said.

Yes, but: Festa, which serves families facing poverty, has never relied heavily on federal dollars.

• It brought in about $1.8 million last year, with roughly 41% coming from individual donations and 15% from government grants.

Still, Festa feels the ripple effects of competition.

• Emch notes that one grant went from 100 applications to nearly 700.

The strategy: To take more control over their own budget, the organization launched two business ventures, including workplace English-language instruction tailored to employers' workforce needs.

• "We charge a fee, and they pay us," says Emch, who founded the nonprofit 19 years ago. "That has helped not only sustain us but grow."

Zoom in: At Mid-Ohio Food Collective, greater need and shrinking federal aid are forcing the food bank to rely more on partnerships to keep food moving through its network.

• The Grove City nonprofit logged more than 1.8 million pantry visits in 2025, up roughly 57% from pandemic-era levels.
• State support for food purchasing has fallen back to pre-COVID levels, per senior VP Mike Hochron.

"We've got more hungry people to feed and less food to do it," he says.

To help close the gap, Mid-Ohio expanded food rescue efforts, redirecting surplus food that would otherwise go to waste.

• About 40% of the pantry's food now comes from donated products, Hochron says.

The bottom line: Nonprofits have always operated with limited resources, Emch says — and she believes they'll find a way through the current squeeze, too.

• "We nonprofits exist to solve the biggest problems in our world with the smallest budgets," Emch says. "I think we are a group of tenacious, scrappy, passionate people who love our neighbors."