{"id":63,"date":"2010-12-29T07:37:11","date_gmt":"2010-12-29T13:37:11","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/?p=63"},"modified":"2010-12-29T07:37:11","modified_gmt":"2010-12-29T13:37:11","slug":"must-charitable-giving-be-tax-deductible-to-be-sustainable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/2010\/12\/must-charitable-giving-be-tax-deductible-to-be-sustainable\/","title":{"rendered":"Must charitable giving be tax deductible to be sustainable?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Lately I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been thinking about how to encourage charitable giving without evoking the tax deductibility of gifts as a benefit.\u00c2\u00a0 Why? As government looks for ways to balance its books, both revenue and tax code simplification proposals are being widely debated among policymakers and the press.\u00c2\u00a0 Among these are proposals to terminate both the mortgage interest deduction and the charitable gift deduction.\u00c2\u00a0 For example, an article<\/a> in last week\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s New York Times by University of Chicago economist Richard Thaler <\/a>(\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s Time to Rethink the Charity Deduction\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) outlined the benefits of ending the charitable deduction as part of series of policy changes that he believes would make our tax system more equitable.\u00c2\u00a0 An earlier Times\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 story<\/a> (\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Nonprofits Fear Losing Tax Benefit\u00e2\u20ac\u009d) <\/strong>cited an estimate of the \u00e2\u20ac\u0153tax cost\u00e2\u20ac\u009d of the charitable deduction as between $237 billion between 2009 and 2013 and reported on ways the tax code might change based on recommendations of three different \u00e2\u20ac\u0153blue ribbon\u00e2\u20ac\u009d policy panels.<\/p>\n

Would ending the deductibility of charitable gifts have an immediate chilling effect on individual philanthropy?\u00c2\u00a0 Perhaps not, although this will be hotly argued, and I admit I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t relish the opportunity to find out first-hand, particularly in an already turbulent fund-raising environment! \u00c2\u00a0 But I believe donors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 primary motivation for support is belief in an organization\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s mission, respect for its results, and trust in its stewardship of resources.\u00c2\u00a0 The deductibility of a gift is an ancillary benefit, not a primary one.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Still, our own behavior can affect how donors\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 perceptions are shaped, based on how we seek, value, use, and report on\u00c2\u00a0their gifts. For example, I cringe when I see cultural nonprofits over-emphasize \u00e2\u20ac\u0153perks\u00e2\u20ac\u009d when a particular gift level is reached (i.e. for a gift of a particular size, we will provide you with a variety of personal benefits).\u00c2\u00a0 This approach risks turning a gift into a transaction; the quid pro quo is not the good work the organization will do with the donor\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s gift, but rather the individual benefit to the contributor.\u00c2\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tax deduction or none, I think the best way to encourage donors to contribute is to consistently describe the community <\/em>benefit of our work, to ask donors to join in helping us make our communities more interesting, more inspiring, and more energizing places to live because of the arts.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 We can help donors understand that without individual support most cultural organizations would fail in short order, as earned income coupled with government, foundation, and corporate support is insufficient to sustain a robust cultural sector.<\/p>\n

We may get a chance to see what it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s like to raise money in a dramatically changed tax policy environment.\u00c2\u00a0 Thinking about how we should position ourselves for this change \u00e2\u20ac\u201c now \u00e2\u20ac\u201c can strengthen our case for support and help prepare for uncertainty regarding the future deductibility of charitable gifts.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lately I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve been thinking about how to encourage charitable giving without evoking the tax deductibility of gifts as a benefit.\u00c2\u00a0 Why? As government looks for ways to balance its books, both revenue and tax code simplification proposals are being widely debated among policymakers and the press.\u00c2\u00a0 Among these are proposals to terminate both the mortgage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-63","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"entry","8":"has-post-thumbnail"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/speaker\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}