Nonprofit fraud isn’t surging. Enforcement is

Nonprofit fraud is in the news a lot these days.

Federal investigators in Minnesota prosecuted one of the largest alleged COVID-19 pandemic fraud schemes, in which several nonprofits and individuals are accused of stealing about $250 million from a federally funded child nutrition program.

The defendants were found guilty in 2025, three years after the investigation began, of diverting funds by faking meal counts and submitting false reimbursement claims, then spending the money they got on luxury homes and cars. Other federal investigations of alleged fraud at nonprofits serving children in Minnesota are underway.

In April 2026, the Department of Justice under the Trump administration indicted the Southern Poverty Law Center, a civil rights nonprofit, on fraud charges that the center denies. That indictment has raised concerns about increased ...