Nonprofits, charities and public service programs that rely on federal financing to help low-income Americans and other vulnerable groups were in a panic Tuesday as they tried to understand what President Trump’s freeze on grants, aid programs and other federal funding would mean for their ability to function.

And Americans who benefit from the programs wondered whether they might lose critical assistance, such as meals, social services and crucial financial support.

The sweeping order’s lack of guidance left a wide range of organizations — including hospitals, emergency services, housing assistance programs and educational initiatives — wondering if they would have to immediately scale back operations in the absence of federal dollars, since no one knows when or if the money will come back online.

“It’s chaos in nonprofit world,” said Claudia Raymer, who runs the Ohio County Family Resource Network in Wheeling, W.Va., which offers meals, job placement and family support services to the needy. “It’s panic.”

The memo that the Office of Management and Budget issued on Monday stated that federal financial assistance should be aimed at easing inflation, improving efficiency, “ending ‘wokeness’ and the weaponization of government, and Making America Healthy Again.” It also decried what it identified as a practice of directing federal funds “to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism and Green New Deal social engineering policies” as “a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve.”

But the groups that depend on federal money for charity work said on Tuesday that they were stunned and confused by the Trump administration’s order.

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