Last week…February 16th to be exact…marked an important day for fundraisers and nonprofits everywhere! On this day, hundreds of nonprofit fundraisers, administrators and advocates from around the country went to Capitol Hill for the ‘100 Years of Giving DC Fly-In’!
Why is this important to you?
2017 marks the 100-year anniversary of the income tax charitable deduction. And in a time when America’s economic recovery continues to require a strong philanthropic sector it’s imperative that we maintain theses incentives that support the critical work of the nonprofit sector.
Why is this important to our country?
- Nonprofits generate an estimated $1.1 trillion every year providing human services
- 1 in 10 Americans work for a nonprofit, providing approximately 13.5 million jobs
- For every $1 subject to the charitable deduction, communities see $3 in benefits
I’m proud to say that Stelter’s very own Senior Technical Consultant, Lynn Gaumer, flew in for the event and was part of the team representing Team Iowa! Here are a couple highlights that she shared from the event:
- Over 200 participants from 37 states participated in the event (happy to say that approximately 37 were Stelter clients..way to represent!!)
- There were 125 meetings with House and Senate offices
- 52 of those meetings were with members of Congress who serve on tax writing committees
- The National Association of Charitable Gift Planners had the most participation from any single Charitable Giving Coalition (CGC) member organization
Their message was simple:
Expand and enhance charitable giving – enact a universal charitable deduction.
- A universal charitable deduction would be available to all taxpayers, not just those who itemize
- All taxpayers would receive an incentive to give to charity
A universal deduction would:
- Increase giving, in terms of both dollars and donors
- Increase fairness by treating all taxpayers’ contributions equally
- Provide modest tax relief to middle and lower income taxpayers
Great work by everyone that took the time to head to DC last week, it’s truly great to see the community come together like this!
To learn more about what you and your nonprofit can do, please check out the CGC website!