HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A new UHERO report is sounding the alarm for Hawaii’s nonprofits, which face a shortfall of $126 million in unpaid federal grants and more fallout from the government shutdown.

The dire warning from UH economists and nonprofit leaders comes as new data shows 74 grants earmarked for 59 Hawaii nonprofits are now politically vulnerable.

“Over half of it is in healthcare programs and Native Hawaiian serving programs,” said UHERO Executive Director Carl Bonham. “If you make cuts to these kinds of programs at the same time that there are cuts elsewhere, whether it’s in Medicaid or SNAP or tax credits for the Affordable Care Act, then the strains on the system just compound.”

An estimated 49,000 Hawaii residents are at risk of losing Medicaid coverage due to additional work requirements, and another 22,000 could lose their SNAP benefits.

“They could significantly increase demand for the services of these nonprofits at precisely the time where the nonprofits themselves are losing some federal contracts,” said Terry George, CEO and President of the Hawaii Community Foundation.

Roughly a third of federally funded nonprofits count on Washington for more than 20% of their revenue.

Those focused on human services, environment, and education are especially at risk, with many forced to lay off employees, delay benefits or even shut down life-saving services.

“It’s really a crisis right now for domestic violence. People fleeing, they don’t have a way anywhere to go unless they go to a shelter, but they can’t bring their animal,” said Mary Scott Lau, Women in Need founder and executive director, who added they had to shut down and relocate survivors of one housing program that allowed pets, after funding was cut.

Nonprofits serving houseless populations are also feeling the pinch.

“When a young person, ages 14 to 24 is on the streets without that lifeline from trusted adults, our efforts to reunify runaways with their families, our efforts to connect young people to mental health, substance abuse treatments are all going to be interrupted,” said Carla Houser, RYSE Executive Director, which provides support services for houseless youth.

The Hawaii Community Foundation says it’s using the report to prioritize grant making and strategically support programs with the greatest need.

It revived its Covid-era Hawaii Resilience Fund and hopes to raise $1.8 million by the end of October.

“Philanthropic dollars are not going to replace all of these federal dollars but we wanted to be as targeted as we could be in providing support,” George said.

And more help is on the way — the state set aside $50 million in emergency funding this year to keep nonprofits afloat. Lawmakers are still hammering out the application process.

“This research really helps to point out where the potential gaps are and where we can hopefully plug some of some of the gaps by coming together,” said Michelle Bartell, President and CEO of Aloha United Way.

Find a link to the full UHERO report here.