The Star Tribune recently interviewed Bill Graves, President of the John and Denise Graves Family Foundation, and Jon Pratt, former CEO of Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, for an article about charitable tax reform efforts, including the Accelerating Charitable Efforts (ACE) Act. The piece quoted both philanthropic leaders on why their organizations joined the Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving and how commonsense tax reforms will get much-needed money faster to charities in Minnesota and beyond.
Excerpts featuring Bill Graves and Jon Pratt are below:
“Is the right amount of money being put to work in organizations that are active in the community, and how much is actually being stored in bank accounts?” said Jon Pratt, the outgoing head of the state Council of Nonprofits, which has about 2,200 members. “Our goal is to strengthen nonprofits and have a positive charitable giving climate. The goal is not to simply have high net worth stored in charitable accounts.”
“I think it’s in the general public’s interest to see that more of [donor-advised fund and private foundation] dollars reach working charities,” said Bill Graves, president of the John and Denise Graves Family Foundation. “It has enormous implications for the vitality of the nonprofit sector in the coming decades.”
“[With] everything from COVID to recovering from the uprising in Minneapolis, we see a lot of charitable appeals,” [Jon Pratt] said. “And the idea that billions of dollars is sitting in bank accounts … wouldn’t you want to see those put to work in your community?”
Read the full Star Tribune article here.