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By Zamone Perez
April 22, 2025
Earth Day is usually cause for celebration by nonprofit groups working to reduce the effects of climate change but this year, they are speaking out about the possibility President Donald Trump could try to revoke their tax-exempt status.
One change could include removing “climate change” as a qualifying topic for being nonprofit. Late last week in the Oval Office, Trump hinted the administration might scrutinize the tax status of environmental organizations, although federal law currently bars a president from directly or indirectly ordering the Internal Revenue Service to investigate specific tax-exempt groups.
Joelle Novey, director of the nonprofit Interfaith Power and Light in Maryland, the District of Columbia and Northern Virginia, said people should be alarmed at the prospect.
“The very idea that the president could interfere with the (c)3 status of any group is an insult we should all take personally,” Novey contended. “It’s an insult to our freedom as Americans to come together through organizations to be who we are.”
In Maryland, groups like the Chesapeake Climate Action Network are watching developments closely. Being tax-exempt allows organizations to receive tax-deductible charitable contributions and to pay no federal income tax.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said the Trump administration has already defied due process and the lawmaking powers of Congress by revoking some universities’ tax-exempt status.
“We are going to stand up strong for the environmental not-for-profits,” Raskin vowed. “Which are engaged in arguably the most long-range, visionary and fundamental charitable and philanthropic work of all, which is preserving the earth as a habitat for humanity.”
A federal judge last week ordered the Trump administration to unfreeze billions of dollars in climate and infrastructure funds previously stopped in an executive order on Trump’s first day in office.