The $85-billion in across-the-board federal spending cuts scheduled to begin Friday are prompting nonprofit leaders scrambling this week to explain the impact and to rally their members to lobby Congress to reverse the reductions.

The Coalition on Human Needs and Catholic Charities USA both issued statements to their members this week to explain how the $31.5-billion in cuts to domestic programs could hamper their budgets and that time remains for Congress to cancel the so-called sequestration before the end of March.