A Historic Victory for Philanthropy

Today we celebrate a major victory for community foundations and your donors.

The charitable “tax extenders” are no longer “extenders” that must be reinstated each year, but have become a permanent part of our tax code. In a historic vote, Congress passed the IRA Charitable Rollover into permanent law, making it available to donors and charities for the foreseeable future.

Your efforts made this possible. Hundreds of Council members rallied together through the grassroots 5 Minutes for Philanthropy campaign. You took up the #Act4Good on Twitter and generated well over six million impressions and reached over 300,000 accounts. Across the country, you have made your voices heard by lawmakers through emails and phone calls, on Facebook and Twitter.

Because of your efforts, community foundations may immediately begin accepting IRA Charitable Rollover gifts from individuals age 70 ½ and up to $100,000 without incurring tax on the withdrawal. This benefit is available to all taxpayers regardless of whether they itemize their deductions.

For assistance in working with your donors who are interested in rollover gifts, visit our IRA Toolkit, Community Foundation Portfolio: Charitable IRA, or contact the Council’s Legal Affairs team.

While today marks a momentous win for the charitable sector, there is still work to be done. The Council will continue to educate Congress about the value of the IRA Charitable Rollover and actively encourage expansion to donor advised funds. We have made significant headway in Congress on expansion and will actively keep it in front of Congress for future tax reform.

I want to congratulate you on a hard-earned policy achievement—one that could not have happened without your advocacy efforts. Thank you for all that you do.

Best wishes for a wonderful holiday season filled with abundant end-of-year donations!