Nonprofits Need to Shake Their Tax Obsession

To the Editor:

I enjoyed reading “How Charities Won a High-Stakes Battle on Donor Tax Breaks,” (January 17); however, all of the back-and-forth between a variety of organizations and the White House further reinforced my thinking that we have to elevate this discussion beyond just the charitable deduction.

Fighting for the deduction makes for a good story, and the Association of Fundraising Professionals was pleased to play a part as chair of the Charitable Giving Coalition.

But in the long run, any single focus risks being counterproductive—one loss, and we could see significant losses in giving, and it takes away our focus from more significant gains in public policy.

I believe we’ve got to move the discussion beyond just tax reform. As Andrew Watt, chief executive of AFP, wrote in an op-ed The Chronicle published in December, we have to position ourselves for the long term and look at comprehensive, transformative policy changes that can help our organizations not just address problems but actually solve them.

The White House has shown its ambivalence about the charitable deduction but says it still wants to support the charitable sector. It needs to demonstrate its commitment to the sector by working with us to create new sustainable revenue platforms and bringing together business, government, charities, and others to forge new connections to work together to solve problems.

But it’s a discussion that has to start with us.

We’ve got to set our sights higher than one aspect of tax reform, or we’re going to be stuck all year defending the deduction and not using our resources to generate new ways to further our missions and educate the legislative and executive branch leadership on the power, significance, and substance of our sector.

Bob Carter
Board Chair
Association of Fundraising Professionals
Arlington, Va.