DOGE sought to assign a team to an independent nonprofit group

U.S. DOGE Service representatives told leaders of a nonprofit group Tuesday that it wants to assign members of its team to work at all institutes or agencies that receive federal funds, highlighting its aggressiveness as it attempts to reshape the federal government, according to several people familiar with the matter.

A 20-minute phone call involved two members of DOGE and attorneys for the Vera Institute of Justice, with DOGE representatives revealing plans to potentially attach its team members to more organizations and institutes that receive government funding, according to representatives of the institute. DOGE, led by Trump administration ally Elon Musk, stands for Department of Government Efficiency.

A member of DOGE last week emailed the Vera Institute of Justice — an independent nonprofit organization that advocates for lower incarceration rates — to schedule a meeting about “getting a DOGE team assigned to the organization,” according to a copy of the email that was reviewed by The Washington Post.

“If I do not hear from you, I will assume you do not plan to comply with the President’s Executive Order,” said the email from DOGE representative Nate Cavanaugh, referencing an executive order from President Donald Trump that called on DOGE to modernize government efficiency and productivity.

It was unclear how many groups DOGE aims to be involved in, but working with more groups could represent a dramatic expansion of DOGE’s influence in the administration’s operations. The service has largely centered on slashing employees and funding at executive branch agencies.

Based on a transcript of the meeting prepared by the institute, DOGE representatives seemed unaware that Vera Institute recently lost its federal grants and of how nonprofit groups that receive grants operate differently from government entities that have independence from the executive branch.

At the meeting Tuesday, Vera Institute leaders said the Justice Department this month revoked $5 million in federal grants that the institute was receiving to develop programs related to reducing recidivism rates and supporting victims of violent crimes, according to Nick Turner, head of the Vera Institute.

When DOGE members learned that the Vera Institute was no longer receiving federal funds, he started to wrap up the meeting, realizing it was no longer necessary.

Vera Institute lawyers said they are appealing the Justice Department’s decision and hope to have their federal funds restored.

According to institute representatives, a man who identified himself as Cavanaugh said on the phone call that DOGE wants to have teams assigned to every institute and agency that receives federal funds through the congressional appropriations process. He did not specify if this included all organizations that received federal grants.

He said DOGE would work with leadership at these groups to better understand their operations.

A spokesperson for DOGE said the meeting was in keeping with Trump’s executive order that established DOGE.

According to the transcript of the phone call provided by Vera, Cavanaugh referenced the U.S. Institute of Peace as an example of DOGE assigning a team to an independent nonprofit. Last month DOGE effectively took over and shut down the U.S. Institute of Peace, a 40-year-old institution founded and funded by Congress that employs about 600 people in Washington abroad. USIP operates differently than Vera Institute and other nonprofits, which were not established by Congress and typically receive their funding from grants and private donations.

A Vera Institute attorney then asked on the call what legal authority DOGE had to demand involvement with an independent, nonprofit organization, according to the transcript. The DOGE employees reportedly responded that there was no point in getting into details since the Justice Department already terminated Vera’s grants.

“This administration has systematically attacked every aspect of civil society, from academia to law firms and the media, and is now coming after the nonprofit sector,” Nick Turner, president of Vera Institute, said in a statement. “We can only surmise that these tactics seek to silence us. It will not happen. We will not back down.”

Vera Institute receives most of its funding through private donations and grants, but it has long received federal grants through the Justice Department. The institute had about $5 million remaining in Justice Department grants over the next three years to, among other actions, partner with local and federal government entities to help operate programs that train correction officers to work with prisoners in a manner that could better improve recidivism rates; provide interpreters to law enforcement agencies to support deaf victims of violent crimes; and work with city governments to provide mental health services.

On April 4, Justice Department officials informed Vera Institute leaders in a letter that its five current grants through the department’s Office of Justice Programs would be terminated, according to a letter reviewed by The Washington Post. That meant leaders would not be able to spend money promised to it through multiple-year grants, creating an immediate funding shortfall for the nonprofit organization.

The Justice Department letter states that the grants were being terminated because they “no longer effectuate the program goals or agency priorities.”

“It all totals five million a year,” Insha Rahman, a vice president of Vera Institute, said in an interview. “Five million is a pittance for the federal government. It is certainly not being cut for waste, fraud and efficiency sakes.”

The Justice Department’s Office of Justice Programs — known as OJP — awards billions of dollars each year to hundreds of nonprofit groups and government agencies that work on combating violence in communities.

The Vera Institute appears to be the only OJP grantee so far whose funding has been revoked midway through its funding cycle.

The institute’s leaders have publicly opposed Trump administration policies, and the group has long been criticized in conservative media.

Vera had received $200 million in federal grants between 2005 and 2022 to provide legal services to undocumented immigrants trying to find legal pathways to remain in the United States.

Vera Institute leaders said funding peaked during the first Trump administration. In 2022, the Vera Institute created a separate nonprofit group that would handle and receive funding for immigration legal services. The Trump administration recently cut federal grant funding to that separate nonprofit for immigrant legal services.

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• Emily Davies and Derek Hawkins contributed.