Currently, there is a piece of federal legislation that all non-profits should be advocating for called “The Charitable Act” (S566/HR3435). This bipartisan bill has been supported by over 500 organizations from all 50 states as well as both sides of the aisle in Congress and the U.S. Senate.
The Charitable Act will revive a type of universal deduction for charities, giving every taxpayer an incentive to donate to non-profits of their choice. During the last deduction of this kind (2020 and 2021), AFP’s Fundraising Effectiveness Project found that the number of donations in the $300-$600 range, went up by nearly 11%. Since then, the deduction was allowed to expire, and we saw a 5% decline.
Further, studies, such as one performed by GivingUSA, have found that when the tax code allows for more deductions, there is more of an incentive for people to give more. GivingUSA found that 2022 was one of the worst giving years in philanthropy history.
With these disturbing trends, The Charitable Act will allow all-taxpayers (even non-itemizers) to deduct roughly $4,600 for individuals and $9,200 for joint filers. According to polling, 87% of voters say that they would like to see a permanent restoration of a universal charitable deduction and over half of the surveyed voters said they would give to more charities if they could get deductions for their donations.
In a time where Washington D.C. is unpredictable, The Charitable Act would help non-profits to rely on funding from their donors as government cutbacks continue to loom over the sector.
To read more about The Charitable Act, visit ww.afpglobal.org/lobbyweek2023 or email me, [email protected].
Nicole L. Weingartner is the Director of State Government Affairs at Davidoff Hutcher & Citron LLP. Known as “The Long Island Lobbyist”, Nicole is particularly skilled in assisting clients who are located and/or do business on Long Island. Her decade plus long relationships on the municipal, county, state and federal levels allow her clients to navigate complex issues such as funding, relationship building, contracting and crisis management.