The Charitable Giving Coalition sent the following letter to Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO) and Ranking Member Richard Neal (D-MA), and Senate Finance Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Ranking Member Mike Crapo (R-ID) in support of the Charitable Act. You can find a PDF of the letter here.
We write to urge you to take advantage of the opportunity presented by negotiations over the bipartisan Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 (H.R. 7024) to restore a charitable deduction for non-itemizers—also known as a universal charitable deduction (UCD). As we wrote late last year in our Giving Tuesday letter (attached) signed by more than 1,000 charitable and nonprofit organizations from all 50 states, alarming trends and economic forces are combining to undermine our nation’s culture of generous giving.
Leaders of charities and other local charitable-giving stakeholders have been weighing in with Members of Congress to emphasize the importance of restoring a charitable deduction for non‑itemizers. Doing so will improve federal law and policy undergirding charitable giving and will encourage and strengthen giving by Americans of all income levels.
Contributions by generous individuals are a major source of financial support for critical goods and services needed by individuals, families, and communities throughout the country. Any drop in revenue threatens the ability of countless charities and nonprofits to fulfill their missions to provide a wide range of care and support to our needy and suffering neighbors.
To summarize, in 2022 charitable giving fell by 10.5 percent when adjusted for inflation. This is the largest year-over-year decline the widely respected Giving USA has found in almost 60 years. Further, according to the best and latest available data,[1] the percentage of U.S. households giving to charity has declined from over 66 percent in 2000 to less than 50 percent in 2018.
The available data on giving in 2023 only add to the disturbing picture. The Association of Fundraising Professionals’ Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) recently reported that “charitable giving trends demonstrated a persistent decline” through the first three quarters of 2023.[2] FEP found a year-over-year decrease in dollars given from January through September 2023 among all donor categories, from Micro (contributions of $1 to $100) to Supersize (contributions of more than $50,000).[3] Exacerbating an already precipitous decline, the number of givers in 2023’s first three quarters decreased year-over-year by 7.6 percent.[4]
This week, hundreds of leaders of charitable and nonprofit organizations will be in Washington and on Capitol Hill to discuss the charitable deduction for non-itemizers and the widely supported bipartisan, bicameral Charitable Act (H.R. 3435, S. 566). We urge you to heed their and our requests to take an important step to shore up America’s culture of giving—that is, by using the bipartisan Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act or another must-pass legislative vehicle to restore a charitable deduction for non-itemizers effective this year.
Thank you for your consideration and support of America’s charitable community.
Charitable Giving Coalition
[1] The Giving Environment: Understanding Pre-pandemic Trends in Charitable Giving, Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, July 2021, at 5, https://scholarworks.iupui.edu/server/api/core/bitstreams/f5f188c8-285e-4ddd-ab10-6da930d82c6f/content.
[2] Donor Retention and Acquisition Key Challenges for Social Sector in Q3 2023, Association of Fundraising Professionals News, Dec. 21, 2023, https://afpglobal.org/news/donor-retention-and-acquisition-key-challenges-social-sector-q3-2023.
[3] Quarterly Fundraising Report (Jan 1, 2023 – Sep 30, 2023), Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP), https://data.givingtuesday.org/fep-report/.
[4] Id.