Mike’s Monday Message Takeover: Advocate for Charitable Giving Incentives this Lobby Week

Last week, eight members of AFP’s board of directors and volunteer leaders from AFP’s Government Relations Committee and PAC Board visited Capitol Hill to promote the Charitable Act, legislation that will incentivize charitable giving. They met with 10 Senate offices and four House offices - from both parties. The meetings included Senate Finance Committee Democrats and Republicans staff, Senate Leadership of both parties (Senator Schumer (D-NY), Senator John Thune (R-SD), and Senator John Cornyn (R-TX)), other key Members of Congress, including Senator Rounds (R-SD and Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-KY). The Board also met with senior staff from the office of Senator Grassley, Rep. Arrington (TX-19), who serves as the chair of the House Budget Committee, Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN), and Rep. James Clyburn (D-SC), among others. 



For the last few years, AFP’s primary legislative priority has been passage of the bipartisan, bicameral Charitable Act (H.R. 3435/S. 566), which would restore and expand the charitable deduction for non-itemizers, which was allowed to expire at the end of 2021. 

In March of 2020, the CARES Act was signed into law, including a universal charitable deduction of $300 per taxpayer. In December of the same year, that deduction was extended for the tax year of 2021, allowing single filers to continue the $300 deduction, and increasing the deduction for joint filers to $600.

Since, the deduction was allowed to expire, the 91% of Americans who do not itemize their taxes no longer have access to this charitable deduction. As a result, 88% of giving is currently coming from 13% of donors.

While there are many factors that contribute to increased giving, one key factor is clearly the availability of the charitable deduction to non-itemizers. Data from the AFP Foundation’s Fundraising Effectiveness Project (FEP) has noted continued declines in giving for 2022 and 2023, in the absence of this deduction. For example, the Q4 2023 FEP report, released in April of this year, noted that donors contributing less than $500 were responsible for 79.3% of the overall decrease in donors for 2023.

This decline in small individual donations is confirmed by the 2023 Giving USA Report, which was released earlier this month. The report showed a 1.9% pre-inflation increase in giving, however the majority of this was driven by increases from bequests and corporations. Individual giving saw the lowest growth — a decline of 2.4% when adjusted for inflation. This comes on the heels of a 13.4% inflation-adjusted decline in individual giving in 2022.

The Charitable Act would allow non-itemizing taxpayers to claim one-third of the standard deduction, or approximately $4,600/$9,200, without needing to itemize their taxes — a clear incentive for charitable giving. The House bill has 74 House cosponsors, split among the two parties and the Senate bill has 24 cosponsors, also evenly split, however we still need your help to ensure that this deduction is included, as lawmakers debate reauthorization next year of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which includes $3 Trillion+ of expiring tax cuts.

If you would like to get involved, join us for AFP’s fourth annual Chapter Lobby Week, August 5-9. During this week, we are asking that our AFP chapters meet with their local representatives to help us advocate for this important legislation.

As fundraisers, you know the incredible results that come with an increase in charitable giving. You have the unique ability to go beyond the percentages, to demonstrate to our representatives the true impact that more resources for nonprofits will have in their communities. We encourage everyone to utilize the fact sheets and talking points we have put together and build upon these numbers by explaining what that type of increase could do for your organization and others like it, that provide essential services for the people that these lawmakers represent.

If you have a meeting scheduled, please complete this survey to let us know, so we can provide assistance and follow up with you after the meeting. If you don’t have time to participate in AFP’s Lobby Week, you can send a quick message to your Member of Congress through AFP’s Advocacy platform at: https://afpglobal.org/policy-advocacy/charitable-act 

Don’t hesitate to reach out to paffairs@afpglobal.org to learn more about what you can do to support incentives to charitable giving.