One week after a new coalition of nonprofits announced a “State of Civic Emergency,” both private and public sources in San Diego have created grants to help offset Trump Administration funding cuts.
The downtown San Diego-based Prebys Foundation just announced a $2 million initiative called BRIDGE (Building Resilient, Inclusive, and Dynamic Grassroot Ecosystems) aimed at supporting nonprofits that help provide a safety net to local at-risk communities.
The San Diego County Board of Supervisors also made a similar move, approving two grants to the San Diego Food Bank ($500,000) and the California Center for Cooperative Development ($250,000), to support the SunCoast Market Co-Op under construction in Imperial Beach.
“These investments will directly benefit residents facing food insecurity while supporting the local food economy,” according to a statement from County Supervisors Monica Montgomery Steppe and Joel Anderson.
The Prebys Foundation’s $2 million BRIDGE Initiative will go to a cohort of eight nonprofits: Chicano Federation, Fieldstone Leadership Network San Diego, Hispanas Organized for Political Equality, LEAD San Diego, RISE San Diego, Amplified Impact Partners, The Nonprofit Institute and Walking Shield.
San Diego nonprofits are navigating delayed funding, budget cuts, rising costs, and shifting federal policies, according to a statement from the Prebys Foundation.
“Nonprofits are the backbone of San Diego’s civic and social infrastructure,” Prebys Foundation CEO Grant Oliphant says. “Through BRIDGE, we are standing with them in this moment of disruption to ensure they not only survive but emerge stronger, more connected and more impactful than ever.”
Even before recent shifts in federal policy and disruptions in nonprofit funding, the Prebys Foundation was working with community partners to strengthen the region’s nonprofit and civic infrastructure. What began in fall 2024 as a collaborative planning effort has become BRIDGE, confirms Prebys Foundation Senior Learning Officer Dr. Novien Yarber.
The grants couldn’t have come at a better time for leaders of the San Diego Solidarity Network.
The newly formed volunteer coalition of nonprofits announced its State of Civic Emergency on Monday, June 17, at a press conference in the Chicano Park Museum and Cultural Center in Barrio Logan.
In declaring the state of emergency, SDSN co-steward Claire Groebner said: “We need to see that our house is on fire…We’re not waiting for the government to declare that. We say it because we feel it.”
District 9 San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera praised the SDSN at its press conference and agreed cuts to federal programs have become problematic.
“This emergency is the result of an attack on working families, seniors losing access to the medication they need to survive, children losing access to the food they need to grow…and an attack on the organizations that exist to serve the people who are becoming more vulnerable,” Elo-Rivera said.
Government funding accounts for 30% of nonprofit revenue, according to the “San Diego County Survey of Nonprofit Leaders,” conducted in March 2025 by The Nonprofit Institute and the University of San Diego.
According to the study, 72% of San Diego’s 12,000-plus nonprofits report direct or anticipated impacts from federal executive orders. One-third have already modified or ended services. Nearly 500 staff have been laid off or furloughed.
“The people doing the hardest work – feeding our families, protesting the planet – should not be begging for scraps,” Elo-Rivera said. “They should be fully funded, respected and supported.” SDSun
