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To the AFP-GPC Community:
As you are aware, last Thursday morning, the White House officially released a budget blueprint for FY 2018, which includes plans to eliminate the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA), National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, as well as significant cuts in funding to other government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
While the Association of Fundraising Professionals' focus is on private giving and philanthropy, we must acknowledge the potential indirect impact that cuts in federal funding has on the charities we serve. If the government chooses to provide fewer services, then we will be forced to fill in the gaps to meet the greater needs or else those services will simply cease to exist. Those of us that rely on government grants and contracts will be forced to raise more money from private sources, at a time when demand for our institutions' services continues to rise.
These proposed cuts make it all the more critical that the charitable deduction is preserved in its current form, and that no negative changes are made to it or other giving incentives. Earlier proposals floated by the Trump Administration and then-candidate Trump, such as an increase in the Pease Limitation for itemized deductions for high-income taxpayers, would have had a significant negative impact on charitable giving (in the billions of dollars).
The charitable deduction and other incentives not only encourage giving, but also tend to affect the size of gifts and how often one gives. The deduction is also an important symbol of the American tradition of philanthropy and our willingness to help each other. At a time when we need more charitable engagement from a wider breadth of the population, we should be careful about changing or altering the deduction and its impact upon our society.
The Association of Fundraising Professionals - Greater Philadelphia Chapter
puts forth considerable effort to bring high quality programming to our members so that they may meet these serious challenges.
We encourage you, our members and colleagues who work in the nonprofit sector, and our donors as well to reach out to your representatives and be vocal on this issue. Below is a list of our US Senators and information on how to find the correct US House of Representative members.
Your support is critical in the coming weeks. Working together, our collective voice will be exponentially louder and our impact more powerful.
With many thanks,
Josie Burri, CFRE
AFP-GPC President
Jim Friend
AFP-GPC Board Director & Government Relations Chair
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