FY 2026-27 Collaborative Budget Presentation to PA Legislators

This month, PANO joined 13 coalition partners to present Pennsylvania’s FY 2026-27 Nonprofit Budget and Policy Proposals to 21 staffers representing 16 different legislative offices across the Commonwealth. The virtual presentation brought together organizations working across housing, food security, child care, behavioral health, children’s services, intellectual disabilities and autism, arts and culture, and nonprofit capacity, each making the case for targeted investments before Pennsylvania’s June 30 state budget deadline.

A Sector Under Pressure from Every Direction

Pennsylvania is home to 49,000 active 501(c)(3) organizations. They employ 817,300 people — 15.7% of all private-sector jobs in the Commonwealth — and contribute $139.8 billion to Pennsylvania’s economy annually. In most counties, nonprofits account for between 10% and 25% of all private-sector employment. In some communities, they are the single largest employer. And right now, they are being squeezed from both ends.

On the federal side, paused grants, funding freezes, the decommissioning of the Combined Federal Campaign, proposed Medicaid work requirements, and a supplemental military appropriations request that competes directly with domestic discretionary funding are all landing at once. On the state side, a $4 to $6 billion structural budget gap, a divided legislature, and the lingering financial damage from last year’s 135-day impasse have left organizations with depleted reserves and limited capacity to absorb further disruption.

The numbers tell the story clearly. 68% of Pennsylvania nonprofits project increased demand for services this year. 74% project increased expenses. Only 41% project increased revenue. And 86% operate on budgets under $500,000 — meaning even a short payment delay can be the difference between keeping the doors open and closing them.

The June 30 deadline is not an abstraction. It is the point at which this year’s conditions either stabilize or compound into a full-blown crisis for the organizations and communities that depend on them.

Pennsylvania is heading toward a June 30 budget deadline with a multi-billion dollar gap, a divided legislature, and a federal funding environment that is actively pulling resources out of communities across the Commonwealth. The organizations in this coalition are not asking for more than what it takes to hold the system together. They are asking for what it costs to keep the doors open for people who have nowhere else to go.

For more:

• Read about our collective asks here.
• Watch a recording of this presentation here, where you’ll hear directly from each of our community partners about their most pressing budgetary concerns and requests.

Image Credit: Jakub Żerdzicki on Unsplash.com