Devex Newswire: Trump tax bill targets foundations and nonprofits

U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill — still being debated in a key Congressional committee at the time of sendout — would hike foundation taxes, levy remittances, and revoke nonprofit status without due process. Charities warn it will stifle giving and hurt vulnerable communities. Republicans say it helps working Americans — but critics see big gains for the wealthy.

Also in today’s edition: Why are hundreds of thousands of food parcels stuck in the U.S.,  and where is Bill Gates’ money going?

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Shaking foundations

The legislative plan Trump has described as a “big, beautiful bill” is picking up steam — and philanthropy leaders are alarmed, my colleague Elissa Miolene writes. A 389-page tax package debate is wending its way through a key House committee, with proposals to hike taxes on foundations, slap a 5% fee on remittances on noncitizens, and give the Treasury power to revoke nonprofits’ tax-exempt status without due process.

Large foundations, with assets above $5 billion, could see taxes on investment income rise from 1.39% to 10%, with new tiers for those with assets between $50 million and $5 billion. University endowments would face tax hikes too, and corporations would need to give at least 1% of profits to qualify for charitable deductions — up from today’s average of 0.92%.

“Ultimately, this tax will hurt those who can least afford it: the people and places that rely on charitable support to weather today’s challenges and prepare for tomorrow,” warns Kathleen Enright of the Council on Foundations.

Republicans call the legislation — which is part of a sweeping tax package that includes many of Trump’s campaign promises — a win for everyday Americans. “Hardworking Americans like waitresses, mechanics, nurses and farmers” would benefit, says Rep. Jason Smith, a Republican from Missouri.

But the Urban-Brookings Tax Policy Center found top earners would get tax cuts of over $100,000, while low-income Americans would see just $120.

“This legislation pours gasoline on the fire that’s already burning,” says Rep. Richard Neal, a Democrat from Massachusetts.

The bill also includes a controversial clause allowing the Treasury to label nonprofits as “terrorist supporting organizations.” “This provision would require designated organizations to prove their innocence, which is certainly the wrong way around,” Enright says.

Last time similar legislation was proposed on Capitol Hill, the American Civil Liberties Union warned the proposal could let the government “harass, and effectively dismantle any non-profit organization.”

If the bill passes the committee, it could go to the full House as early as next week, with Speaker Mike Johnson aiming to pass it before May 26. If that happens, it could drastically reshape U.S. philanthropy just months after Trump’s foreign aid cuts.

+ My colleague Elissa Miolene is watching the hearings — keep an eye out for her full write-up later today.

Uncharitable characterization

Things got heated in a U.K. parliamentary committee hearing Tuesday when Sarah Champion, chair of the International Development Committee, rebuked development minister Jenny Chapman for leaking her speech to newspapers ahead of the hearing and for describing the U.K.’s past aid work as “a global charity.” After the hearing, she also raised concerns that Chapman and her department didn’t share concrete plans about what would be cut as the U.K. prepares to slash aid programs — aside from an admission that education and gender-focused programming will get the ax in favor of funding humanitarian emergency aid and health work.

The ONE Campaign announced that it’s taking steps toward a judicial review of the reduction to the U.K. aid budget, claiming the aid cuts are violating a 2015 law.

Read: UK development minister rebuked by parliamentary committee

Shipping forecast

Two U.S. nonprofit manufacturers of lifesaving peanut paste — Edesia in Rhode Island and Mana Nutrition in Georgia — have hundreds of thousands of boxes sitting idle, meant for malnourished kids in places such as Sudan and Somalia. Why? Because the U.S. government hasn’t signed off on their shipping contracts, my colleague Jesse Chase-Lubitz writes.

Each box constitutes treatment for at least one child, says Mana Nutrition CEO Mark Moore. But ever since the Trump administration began dismantling USAID and slashing food aid, the supply chain has been paralyzed. Edesia founder Navyn Salem says her warehouse is usually “like a highway.” Now it’s eerily quiet.

USAID used to fund half the global supply of this lifesaving paste, known as ready-to-use therapeutic food, or RUTFs. Now the Trump administration is gutting food aid programs such as Food for Peace, cutting off support not only for hungry children but also for U.S. farmers who supply the ingredients. Salem’s been vocal — speaking to the media, the U.S. Congress, even Elon Musk — and Rep. Seth Magaziner, a Democrat from Rhode Island, has promised to speak daily on the House floor until funding is restored.

In the meantime, clinics in Ethiopia and Nigeria are running out of RUTFs, and Moore puts it bluntly: “We’re burning the shelf-life uselessly here in America.”

Read: Why are 400,000 boxes of food for malnourished kids stuck in the US?

Bills, bills, bills

Last week, Bill Gates pledged to double the Gates Foundation’s spending to $200 billion over the next 20 years, until it closes its doors in 2045. That’s a massive increase, but what does past spending tell us about where the money’s likely to go?

In 2024, the foundation committed $5.4 billion, with $1.8 billion for global health — its top single focus area. Another chunk went to global development and multisectoral grants, and nearly a third of all funding was directed toward Africa.

Read: How the Gates Foundation spent $5.4 billion in 2024 (Pro)

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Nominative determinism

Brazilian soil microbiologist Mariangela Hungria just scooped up the 2025 World Food Prize — often called the Nobel Prize for food and agriculture — for her game-changing work developing biological seed and soil treatments that help crops access nutrients such as nitrogen more sustainably.

During her more than four decades at the state-run Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation, or Embrapa, Hungria’s innovations have been used on over 40 million hectares in Brazil, saving farmers $25 billion a year and sparing the planet millions of metric tons of emissions annually, my colleague Tania Karas writes.

Her eco-friendly approach isn’t just good for the climate — it’s great for yields. During her time at Embrapa, Brazil’s annual soybean production jumped from 15 million tons to 173 million tons. “The fight of my life,” she says, is replacing chemical fertilizers with biological ones that don’t sacrifice small farmers’ income.

The announcement came in Des Moines, where Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds praised Hungria as “an inspiring example for women researchers” and compared her to World Food Prize founder Norman Borlaug, father of the Green Revolution. As for Hungria? “I still cannot believe it,” she tells Devex. She thought she’d just been invited to speak at the ceremony — until they told her, “Well you can talk, but it’s just that you won.”

Hungria calls her work a “micro Green Revolution,” following in Borlaug’s footsteps but using microorganisms instead of chemicals. “I'm not against the chemicals,” she said. “I'm against the use of chemicals where you have possibilities of changing to biologicals.”

Read: Brazilian microbiologist wins 2025 World Food Prize

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In other news

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed Anita Anand as the country’s new foreign minister, who will also lead Global Affairs Canada, the department responsible for international development and humanitarian assistance. [AP]

The U.S. is exploring sending to Haiti a Latin American peacekeeping mission under the Organization of American States. [Financial Times]

A new UN Women report reveals that 90% of the 411 women's organizations surveyed worldwide have been affected by funding cuts, and almost half may close within six months due to significant funding cuts. [Reuters]

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