Federal funding cuts impacting nonprofits in San Diego

SAN DIEGO (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - Nonprofits in the San Diego area are keeping a close eye on what's happening in Washington, D.C.

President Donald Trump has signed executive orders aiming to reduce federal spending since taking office for his second term.

A recent survey shows the majority of local nonprofits report direct or anticipated impacts from recent executive actions.

The Nonprofit Institute in San Diego says federal funding cuts could impact housing, medical research, and more.

Now, two nonprofit advocates say that they are thinking about the long term impacts if these federal funding cuts move forward.

"We conduct research about the non-profit sector here in San Diego County," said Tessa Tinkler, Senior Director of Research & Evaluation at the Nonprofit Institute.

Tinkler says big changes could be coming in the future: "72%, so nearly three-quarters reported that they either had direct impacts already or they were anticipating impacts very soon. Nearly a third have already had to modify programs or in some cases even discontinue some services and programs."

She explains how this impacts people: "Some of the nonprofits that people might not realize are nonprofits are most of our hospitals and health clinics are nonprofits. Our medical research institutes that are a large part of our innovation economy."

According to Tinkler, many museums at Balboa Park and after-school programs would be impacted as well.

Her research shows that there are over 13,000 nonprofits in San Diego County and they bring in over $28 billion in revenue.

"We are the largest homeless service provider here in this region," said Jim Vargas, President and CEO of Father Joe's Village.

Deacon Vargas says he is keeping a close eye on the executive actions working their way through the court system.

"And so right now, it's tied up in court so we haven't been impacted at this point in time and we hope not to be impacted. It will impact those who serve who are on the streets...those who we are trying to help through employment services to get them back on their feet," Vargas explained.

According to Vargas, about 10% of their funding comes from federal dollars, whereas according to the organizations that responded to the University of San Diego (USD) survey, around 31% of their budget comes from federal funding.

"The work that we do makes a tremendous difference in the lives of those who were blessed to serve each and every single day and so I would hate for that to be disrupted in any way," Vargas expressed.

A disruption that he says would be costly

Tinkler stressed while according to her research, federal funding cuts would have an impact on many nonprofits, there are some that would be able to continue their work uninterrupted if funding cuts move forward.