The Department of Nonprofit Efficiency

D.O.N.E

Protecting U.S. nonprofit organizations

from federal funding risk, retaliation, and more.

Let's Talk

We help nonprofits navigate politically hostile environments with clear, legally informed communications and a values-based narrative strategy that inspires. We’re a one-stop shop for organizations seeking to protect their mission, staff, and story—offering integrated legal review, strategic comms, and workplace alignment to reduce risk and strengthen public trust.

Our team brings specific expertise in internal and external communications, burnout prevention, and narrative and storytelling work in authoritarian and repressive contexts, ensuring your message and practices are powerfully aligned, inside and out.

As federal scrutiny and restrictions intensify, nonprofits face a pivotal choice: adjust programs and language or double down on commitments. Either way, your organization must be ready to assess legal and communications risks and proactively shape the narrative. We bridge legal, strategic communications, and workplace practices into one cohesive process.

That means we don’t just help you stay out of trouble; we help you lead with clarity and purpose in environments where decency is under attack. We can help you future-proof your organization, navigate the changing funding landscape, and shore up a wall of goodwill in and around your organization by ensuring alignment between your values, practices, and policies.

Legal & Grant Compliance

Board & Leadership Strategy

Crisis Communications & PR

Social Media

Narrative Strategy & Storytelling

Staff Training & Capacity Building

we’re D.O.N.E talking:

What is “Illegal DEI”?

Jennifer Boll is D.O.N.E Talking —

Non-profit and for-profit federal contractors and grant recipients have been bracing for further guidance on Executive Order 14173 – “Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.”

When Words Go Missing, Nonprofits Go Between the Lines

Michael Braithwaite is D.O.N.E Talking —

The New York Times’ ‘banned words list’ presents a staggering challenge to nonprofits and foundations across the United States. Over 200 terms that have become fundamental to social impact work have suddenly been flagged for federal agencies to “limit or avoid,” and the list reads like a direct attack on the vocabulary of social progress. Because it is. What now?

Let’s GET This D.O.N.E

A

Here's how we can help

w

Initial consultation

An intensive consultation with our legal and strategic communications experts results in the following:

A legal review of grant agreements to assess compliance requirements, modification processes, and termination options*
A communications assessment to identify what’s working, what’s risky, and what needs immediate attention
A practical roadmap outlining findings and recommendations you can act on immediately

* Already been through this process with your lawyer? Great, you already know a lot about what you need to do. Our lawyers ONLY do this all day, so they have the inside track on up-to-the-minute directives and language. Their report is the reality-based bedrock of what comes next….



Implementation

Messaging Refinement: strategic narrative shifts and values-based messaging
Board Management: Laying out risk scenarios and values-driven decision options for your board and other stakeholders
Development Communications: Leveraging Federal funding losses as persuasive asks for new donors
Public Narratives: Framing your work in legally sound, emotionally resonant ways that build a wall of goodwill and expand support in the face of attacks
Internal Resilience: Tools and tactics for managing burnout, maintaining trust, and cultivating a values-aligned workplace from hiring to policies
Moving People: Training and support in brain-science-backed persuasion and hope-based communications
Proactive PR, and where necessary, Crisis Comms and PR