Originally published by Newsweek on May 19, 2026.
By Pamela Shifman and Rajasvini Bhansali
Last month, Fidelity Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and Charles Schwab’s DAFgiving360 – three of our country’s largest sponsors of donor-advised funds – abruptly stopped processing donations to the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Their decision came after the Trump Administration launched a public, highly politicized indictment against SPLC. These institutions may have hoped that no one would notice their action, but they were dead wrong.
This isn’t just some technical issue. The decision to effectively aid the administration’s McCarthyite attack on SPLC poses a direct threat not only to this critical civil rights and racial justice organization, but to the vitality of civil society itself and the health of our democracy.
The sequence of events matters. Within days of the Department of Justice’s politicized indictment, these three DAF sponsors moved to block donations to the SPLC from their platforms – despite no legal obligation to do so. No court has found wrongdoing. No facts have been adjudicated. The institutions did not wait for SPLC to receive due process – instead, they responded to political pressure and fear. As they did, they crossed a line from being stewards of charitable giving to becoming instruments of state power to punish dissent.
Their actions should raise alarm bells for all Americans who care about a healthy civil society, free from authoritarian pressure and intimidation. We’ve seen how these attacks play out in other countries – and it doesn’t end well.
In Turkey, President Erdoğan used emergency decrees to close down more than 1,300 NGOs and 180 media organizations following a 2016 coup attempt. In India, the Modi government has deployed the Foreign Contribution Regulation Act to freeze or cancel the licenses of thousands of NGOs — including Amnesty International India — disrupting their funding and forcing many to halt their operations.
Ethiopia offers a particularly stark warning. In 2009, the government passed the Charities and Societies Proclamation, which barred any organization receiving more than ten percent of its funding from abroad from working on issues like human rights, women’s rights, or conflict resolution. Within a few years, the majority of independent civil society organizations working on human rights were forced to discontinue their work. Not through mass arrests or public crackdowns, but by making it harder for money to flow.
The authoritarian playbook is consistent: governments identify organizations that challenge their power, manufacture legal or regulatory pressure, and then watch as financial institutions and private actors help do their work for them. Now it’s beginning to happen here.
The consequences are grave. It is not a coincidence that the SPLC was targeted by the Trump Administration: organizations that confront white supremacist hate and hold power accountable have always been among the first in the crosshairs.
The attack on SPLC came just days before the Supreme Court’s Callais decision delivered a direct blow to Black political power and voting rights. These are not isolated events. Both are part of a coordinated campaign to roll back the gains of the civil rights movement and to silence and undermine the organizations defending those gains.
These attacks will not end with SPLC. If the federal government can turn prosecution into a selective weapon of political repression and intimidation, then no one is truly safe. This administration has repeatedly signaled a willingness and desire to use prosecutorial power as a tool against its critics and perceived political opponents.
The administration’s charges against the SPLC are part of a coordinated campaign to defund and silence organizations and individuals who are perceived to be political opposition. Financial institutions should not be a willing pawn in a campaign that threatens the core freedoms of us all.
They should learn from the missteps of others. Law firms that believed accommodation with the administration would protect them have found it only invited more demands. Universities are learning the same lesson. Complying in advance does not work. It will not appease authoritarian pressure and is not a path to safety.
Last week, we helped lead a broad coalition of individual philanthropists, foundations, labor unions, and donor advisors in a public letter demanding that Fidelity Charitable, Vanguard Charitable, and Charles Schwab’s DAFgiving360 reverse their decision.
Our members have collectively entrusted large sums to these institutions. If they do not reverse course, we will have no choice but to advise members, clients, and stakeholders to reconsider where they house their funds. Donors have options. We intend to use them.
Financial institutions must not be complicit in the shameful campaign to suppress civil society and undermine the fight for racial justice and civil rights. They should learn the key lesson of the last few years, and of the struggle against authoritarianism around the world: Do not obey in advance.
Pamela Shifman is president of the Democracy Alliance. Rajasvini Bhansali is the Executive Director of Solidaire Action.