Preserve a philanthropic ecosystem that strengthens civil society and supports communities where everyone thrives.
Spanning the ideological spectrum, the philanthropic sector both represents and supports communities across the country and around the world. Politicized attacks chill the ability and willingness of the sector to express that independence, damaging foundations’ capacity to advance the greater good. The Council urges Congress to protect the diversity, flexibility, and unique role of philanthropy as a bedrock of America society.
Strengthen incentives to encourage more individuals, families, and organizations to make charitable contributions to support the causes and communities they care about.
Throughout history, Americans’ generosity has shined as an example for the rest of the world. Philanthropic contributions support our communities in ways that mirror our values, playing a key role in promoting civic engagement. The Council urges Congress to foster a policy environment that supports and grows charitable giving by incentivizing taxpayers to give to the organizations and causes important to them.
Maintain the federal government’s appropriate oversight of the sector.
For the public to maintain trust in the philanthropic and charitable sector, it is important that bad actors are quickly identified and rooted out. The federal government has a critical role in ensuring that charitable organizations are complying with relevant laws and regulations, as well as using their charitable funds to advance their charitable purposes.
Improve global grantmaking through streamlined, modernized regulations that make cross-border charitable giving easier and more efficient.
As the world becomes increasingly globalized, many grantmakers are looking to serve a broader community through their philanthropy. The Council urges Congress and regulators to support policies that make international philanthropy more efficient, effective, and sustainable, especially as foundations aim to support more organizations that are locally-led—while ensuring regulations and compliance rules do not create undue burden for with non-U.S. partners.
Strengthen and expand foundations’ ability to assist students and recent graduates through scholarship grant programs.
Philanthropy has had an important role in helping millions of students afford and access a post-graduation education. The Council supports efforts to establish charitable post-graduation scholarships, which can be awarded to an individual who has student loans and completed a degree or technical program in a career field that is needed in a particular region. Currently, post-graduation scholarship recipients must pay income taxes on their grant awards. In addition, the Council opposes scholarship displacement, a practice when a student’s financial aid from their college or university is reduced because the individual receives a scholarship from a different organization. Congress can do more to support foundations’ work to ensure more affordable postsecondary education for more students and that communities can better attract the workforce they need to thrive.
Continue to support the Johnson Amendment.
The Johnson amendment helps ensure that all 501(c)(3) non-profit organizations are protected from having to engage in political activity. Qualifying nonprofits cannot engage in political campaign activities, including endorsing or opposing political candidates or other actions that are viewed as intervening in elections for public office. The Council will continue to support the charitable sector’s involvement in public policy by current rules and regulations.
As drafted, H.R.9495 includes language that creates redundancies and confusion while providing the executive branch with expansive new authority that could be abused. This legislation would allow the Secretary of the Treasury to designate section 501(c) nonprofits as “terrorist supporting organizations” at the Secretary’s discretion, without requiring the Secretary to share their full evidence or reasoning with accused nonprofits. Join us in opposing this bill.
