In Worth, Bill Graves, President of The John and Denise Graves Family Foundation, penned an op-ed about the need for charitable reform, emphasizing that “charitably directed wealth could do tremendous good, but in order to protect the vitality of the nonprofit sector, policy changes must be made to distribute dollars from donor-advised funds and private foundations to working charities more quickly.”
Read some excerpts from his op-ed below:
“From housing our unsheltered neighbors to connecting vulnerable young people with caring mentors, nonprofits ensure that donated dollars reach the people who need them most. Yet charities doing this important work continue to face financial hardship.”
“At the federal level, we have long-established charitable tax deductions as a tax policy to incentivizes us to give. Now is the time to restart a public conversation about what we mean by charitable giving.”
“[T]he fact is that our current charitable giving laws no longer work as intended to increase the flow of resources to charities — at a time when they urgently need help. … [T]he connection between charitable tax benefits and benefits to charities is tenuous at best. Taxpayers are left footing the bill without any certainty of receiving the public benefits that working charities provide.”
“Today, more than $1 trillion sits in private foundations and DAFs combined. All this charitably directed wealth could do tremendous good, but in order to protect the vitality of the nonprofit sector, policy changes are needed to ensure that DAFs and private foundations distribute funds to working charities more quickly. Community foundations and other public intermediaries can play a unique role by educating newer donors about pressing issues and connecting them with community leaders. No matter how it happens, donors who claim the full tax benefits of charitable giving need to feel the urgency of actually giving that money away.”
Read the full op-ed in Worth here, which was also republished in Philanthropy News Digest here.