Some Sexual Abuse Nonprofits Cut Resources For LGBTQ+ And Immigrant Survivors. DOGE Slashed Their Funding Anyway.
Some sexual violence nonprofits have bent over backwards obeying to the Trump administration to protect their funding. That strategy has hurt survivors and failed to stop DOGE from cutting funding.
Since we reported in February that the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) had removed mentions of trans people from their websites, employees and volunteers at RAINN have furiously fought back against the organization’s decisions to allow the Trump regime to deny important resources to marginalized victims of sexual violence, according to new reporting from the New York Times that cited our article.
Despite this pushback, RAINN leadership has doubled down on their compliance with Trump, according to the report, and banned employees from linking to resources meant for LGBTQ+ and immigrant survivors.
Also in February, we reported that the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) had similarly removed most mentions of trans and immigrant survivors from their websites.
Since then, both RAINN and NNEDV have collectively lost over $1 million in potential federal grants and contracts, according to DOGE records released by the Trump administration. While DOGE’s website is notoriously unreliable, these cuts are corroborated by federal grant and contract databases, third-party data aggregators, and other government documents.
The National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) restored webpages for trans survivors shortly after we reported on the removal of webpages they operated. NSVRC Communications Director Laura Palumbo attributed this decision to our reporting and the discussions it spurred, in an email to Mady Castigan.
NSVRC Director Jennifer Grove told the Times that her nonprofit has not lost any funding or heard from the Trump administration since they restored resources supporting trans survivors in February.
The lost grants and contracts include the following:
RAINN lost up to $511,451 of funding from a terminated USAID program that was meant to last five years, starting last September. The initial grant had been $708,951, with just $197,500 listed as obligated today, according to USASpending.gov and a document detailing USAID cuts published by Politico.
A contract between RAINN and the Bureau of Fiscal Services worth $156,444.60 was marked as “terminated for convenience” on 4/21/2025, which is one year earlier than the contract was originally meant to expire. This cancellation is listed in this CBS searchable database of DOGE cuts, which is scraped from DOGE.gov, and could potentially cost the organization over $30,000 a year.
The National Network to End Domestic Violence lost $638,427 of a $2,000,000 grant on 4/22/2025, according to the CBS database and a third-party federal funding aggregation website called HigherGov. This grant from the Office of Justice Programs was meant to “enhance or expand the capacity of national hotlines,” according to its description.
We were unable to find any DOGE cuts targeting NSVRC or its parent organization, Respect Together, confirming Grove’s statement to the Times.
RAINN and NNEDV did not respond to requests for a comment.
These cuts exemplify how nonprofits (including universities and hospitals) who comply with the demands of Trump and DOGE do not protect their funding. It just makes them an easier target for further extortion.
Trans people are much more likely to face sexual assault than cisgender people, and immigrants often encounter barriers to finding sexual violence resources. These decisions send a message to the world that some leaders of sexual violence nonprofits are more interested in self-preservation than protecting survivors of sexual abuse.
Many readers and survivors commented on social media that our prior reporting shook their trust in these nonprofits, and some said they stopped their recurring donations and no longer recommend these organizations to survivors they know.
We recommend trans survivors of sexual violence and domestic abuse to stay away from RAINN and NNEDV, as they may find it difficult or impossible to access resources specific to their needs from these groups. As an alternative, the Network/La Red offers a 24/7 confidential hotline meant for LGBTQ+ survivors and has not surrendered to far-right extremists in the Trump administration.
The Trevor Project offers youth LGBTQ+ hotlines and is running a campaign to preserve its funding, in the face of threats from the Trump administration’s proposed budget.
Survivors and allies may want to continue hitting these nonprofits with public pressure on every front they can, since this tactic has succeeded in reversing some of these decisions. It is vital for our communities, organizations, and governments to support all victims, no matter who they are.
—Edited by David Forbes
Thank you so much for all of your support! I want to give a warm welcome to new readers who found us from Mady’s recent appearance on It Could Happen Here with Mia Wong, Mira Lazine, and David Forbes. The outpouring of support we received from readers after this podcast episode has given us serious funds to expand our work and make sure trans journalists are paid fairly. We deeply appreciate all forms of support readers provide us, including free subscriptions.
Thank you for the reporting, but especially for offering alternatives for trans survivors. 🏳️⚧️