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U.S. Congressional Investigations Targeting Nonprofits: Analysis

Published: June 2025 (Last updated September 2026)

Since 2023, USCNL has tracked select congressional investigations into nonprofits. During the last congress (2023-2024), there were at least 43 separate investigations targeting nonprofits; there have been at least 80 separate investigations during this congress (2025-2026) impacting hundreds of nonprofits and foundations.

Nonprofits can use USCNL’s tracker to understand the types of organizations that may be at higher risk of investigation and common legal bases for scrutiny. This piece provides (1) an analysis of the investigations in USCNL’s tracker; (2) an overview of the investigation process; (3) suggestions for reform to guard against politicized abuse of congressional investigations; and (4) steps nonprofits can take to better prepare for potential congressional scrutiny.

Congress’s power to investigate is an important tool to exercise oversight over the federal government and gather information to support better lawmaking. However, congressional committees and representatives also have a history of using investigations to target nonprofits with which they disagree politically. Some infamous examples include the House Un-American Activities Committee’s declaration of the ACLU as a Communist front in 1938 and the Select Committee to Investigate Tax-Exempt Foundations’ 1953 investigation into whether prominent U.S. foundations were using their resources for “un-American” or “subversive” activities. In recent years, both Republicans and Democrats have accused their peers of abusing investigations to further political ends.enforcement actions against an organization or its staff.

US Congress; photo credit Connor Gan via Unsplash
Visit USCNL's Congressional investigations tracker

Congressional investigations can undermine a nonprofit’s ability to operate. They can consume an organization’s time and resources, damage its reputation, and undercut staff morale. Congressional committees may also refer an issue for further investigation to other federal or state entities, such as the Justice Department, Treasury Department, or the IRS. This may lead to civil or criminal enforcement actions against an organization or its staff.

Since the start of the 119th session in January 2025, Congressional representatives and committees have pursued at least 80 separate investigations through over 140 investigatory actions—including letters, subpoenas, or reports—targeting hundreds of nonprofits.[i]

These over 140 investigatory actions have targeted a variety of groups, including:

The most frequently cited legal bases for investigating nonprofits since January 2025 were alleged violations of:

Note: A single investigative action may target more than one type of nonprofit and cite multiple legal bases for the investigation.

INVESTIGATION BASICS

A basic understanding of the congressional investigation process can help a nonprofit prepare for or respond to an investigation.

Rules and scope of power: The Supreme Court held in 1880 in Kilbourn v. Thompson that Congress has an inherent power to conduct investigations, and has since repeatedly affirmed this finding. However, the power has several limitations. For example, an investigation must fall within a congressional committee’s jurisdiction as defined in the House or Senate rules and serve “a valid legislative purpose.” The Court has historically interpreted this guidance broadly to mean that Congress can investigate almost any topic “on which legislation could be had.” Congress’s investigation powers are also subject to protections of individuals’ constitutional rights.

Each committee sets its own rules and priorities for investigations during each congressional session. These rules lay out the authority of the committee and its members to use investigatory powers, such as questioning witnesses during a hearing, issuing subpoenas, and approving investigative reports. Both House and Senate committees must submit their rules for the current session to the Congressional Record. Committees also often post their rules online and the Rules committee of each chamber may also consolidate the committee rules.

Voluntary investigation tools: Congressional investigations typically begin with a letter requesting a voluntary response. A committee may also request a nonprofit to attend a voluntary interview, deposition, or hearing. Individual congresspersons may also request information from nonprofits, but response to these requests is also voluntary. A nonprofit may need to work with counsel to assess the risks and benefits of engaging in these situations. For example, an organization may decide to respond to a letter from the chairperson of a committee because otherwise, a chairperson could escalate the situation by issuing a subpoena. Likewise, a nonprofit might respond to letters from highly visible individual representatives who may have sway over some committee investigations. An organization might also decide that it can control the narrative surrounding an inquiry through a voluntary response.

Compulsory investigation tools: A committee may issue a subpoena that requests a nonprofit to produce documents or appear at a deposition or hearing. In the current Congress, the chairman may issue a subpoena unilaterally in most House committees, although some committees require a majority vote. Meanwhile, in the Senate, it is more common to require the agreement of the ranking member or a vote of the majority of the entire committee to issue a subpoena. Congress may enforce subpoenas in three ways: using its own constitutional authority to detain and imprison a person until the person complies with its demand (“inherent contempt”), certifying a contempt citation for criminal prosecution by the Department of Justice (“criminal contempt”), and seeking a civil proceeding before a federal court (“civil enforcement”). Congress has not used inherent contempt since 1935, relying instead on the latter two enforcement mechanisms.

USCNL tracked at least eight subpoenas of nonprofits during the 119th Congress (2025-2026). These stemmed from investigations of organizations allegedly supported by the China-based philanthropist Neville Roy Singham, the Southern Poverty Law Center’s alleged engagement in fraud and money laundering, an environmental organization’s activities to educate judges about climate change, a fundraising platform’s alleged acceptance of fraudulent and foreign donations, another group’s alleged violation of campaign finance disclosure laws, and two universities’ alleged violation of antitrust laws.

A nonprofit may work with counsel to negotiate the terms of response or compliance for both voluntary and compulsory investigation situations.

POTENTIAL GUARDRAILS FOR CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS

Congress should consider adopting guardrails to help ensure that its investigations are less vulnerable to politicized abuse. For example, conducting bipartisan investigations can enhance the public’s support of an investigation and lead to more concrete impact. The Project on Government Oversight (POGO) has highlighted examples of bipartisan investigations that yielded lasting reforms in their report on Best Practices for Congressional Investigations.

To reduce the potential for abuse of investigations, congressional committees should consider changing committee rules that allow committee chairpersons to unilaterally pursue investigations, such as through unilaterally issuing subpoenas. Since the 1990’s, Congress has increasingly allowed chairpersons to issue subpoenas unilaterally, breaking from the earlier practice of requiring either the chairperson and ranking member to agree or a majority vote of the committee to issue the subpoena. Eliminating or limiting committee chairpersons’ capacity to unilaterally issue subpoenas could lead to more balanced investigations and limit the potential for abuse.

HOW CIVIL SOCIETY CAN RESPOND TO RISKS OF CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATIONS

Nonprofits can respond to Congressional investigations by taking actions such as:

Funders can offer financial and other resource support to grantees that are subject to congressional investigations to help mitigate the impact of the investigations on the organizations’ activities.

Taking these steps can help nonprofits protect themselves and advocate for balanced investigations moving forward.

ADDITIONAL HELPFUL RESOURCES

For more information contact Lily Liu (lliu@uscnl.org)

[i] USCNL uses congressional committees’ and members’ press releases and letter archives as well as media reports to monitor investigations. USCNL counts investigatory actions as any time a committee or member releases letters, subpoenas, or reports targeting nonprofits. There may be multiple investigatory actions in a single investigation. Multiple letters or subpoenas to different nonprofits are counted as one investigatory action if a committee issues them at the same time.

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