Daily News Roundup: Charities Mount Capitol Case for Universal Deduction

Charities Push for Broader Access to Giving Tax Break: Hoping to counter a proposed doubling of the standard deduction that charity leaders fear would reduce giving by billions a year, nonprofits are pitching Congress on a universal charitable deduction that would allow all taxpayers to write off their donations whether or not they itemize, writes The Wall Street Journal (subscription). Read a Chronicle article on nonprofit advocacy group Independent Sector’s campaign for the universal deduction.

Shrinking NYC Congregations Turn to Real Estate for Revenue: With attendance and donations dwindling and New York property values on the rise, financially struggling religious institutions in the city are increasingly looking to sell historic houses of worship or related development rights, touching off battles with preservation-minded neighbors, The New York Times reports.

Open Society Fellows Plant Seeds of Change in Baltimore: The community-fellowship program launched shortly after the Open Society Institute opened a field office in the city 20 years ago has produced numerous nonprofits and street-level programs tackling poverty, violence, and other entrenched problems, The Baltimore Sun writes. Read a Chronicle feature about how another Baltimore grant maker, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, recruited local activists to shape its youth-employment programs.

Nonprofit Buys of For-Profit Colleges Could Proliferate Under Trump: A year after the Obama administration rejected the Dream Center Foundation’s bid to buy a commercial college and make it nonprofit, the small Pentecostal charity is proposing to purchase three other large for-profit institutions, a deal that could signal a more laissez-faire attitude toward such controversial conversions under President Trump’s education secretary, Betsy DeVos, according to BuzzFeed News.

Soccer Star Calls on Peers to Donate 1% of Pay: Manchester United midfielder Juan Mata, who earns an estimated $9.1 million a year, pledged 1 percent of his earnings to a fund that supports grass-roots soccer charities and urged fellow players to do the same and “create a movement based on shared values” throughout the sport’s ranks, Reuters reports.