As a reminder to our readers, Washington Snapshot will be taking a break next week. Join Us on 9/9: Nonprofit Media Event at the Newseum Join the Council on Foundations, nonprofit media organizations, foundations, journalists, academics, and other stakeholders for a conversation on Wednesday,…

As a reminder to our readers, Washington Snapshot will be taking a break next week and the week of the 28th. Activate in August With many Members of Congress out of town and back home in their districts for the August recess, much of the action has shifted away from Washington and toward local…

Council Releases August Advocacy Toolkit This Tuesday, the Council hosted our Washington Update LIVE! webinar to discuss the importance of building relationships with your lawmakers so that they understand the value of philanthropy in their districts and states. Featured speakers: Maggie Gunther…

News from the Hill Senate Finance Committee Markup of "Tax Extenders" Package This Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee convened to markup a bill that would renew 52 of the “tax extenders,” including the charitable provisions, for the 2015 and 2016 tax years. As our readers will recall, these…

News from the Hill The Council Visits the Hill This past Monday, July 13th, representatives from the Community Foundations National Standards Board (CFNSB) and the Council’s Public Policy and Legal Affairs Team met with congressional staff from the House Ways and Means Committee, the Senate Finance…

News from the Hill Senate Tax Reform Working Groups Release Reports The Senate Tax Reform Working Groups released their reports this week. The five groups were organized by Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) to assess needs and priorities for future tax code reform.…

News from the Hill America Gives More Act Setback Yesterday, the Senate passed two trade bills by replacing the language of H.R. 644, the America Gives More Act, with trade provisions. This legislative practice of taking a bill that has passed one chamber, gutting the language and replacing with a…

News from the Hill Senate Passes Budget Resolution On Tuesday, the Senate passed the first House-Senate Budget Resolution in six years, which passed the House last week. This is significant because it lays out Congress' agreed-upon policy and spending priorities for the coming year, in every…

The Council on Foundations applauds Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) for introducing The Public Good IRA Rollover Act of 2015 (S.1159). This measure would make permanent and expand the IRA charitable rollover, a valuable incentive for Americans to contribute to charitable organizations across the…

Call to Action! We need you — foundation leaders on the ground in your communities — to reach out to your Senators today and encourage them to support community investments now. As a constituent, your voice is invaluable! You can send an email to your Senators to urge the Senate Finance Committee…

The Council’s legal team advised that a donor advised fund may make a distribution to another donor advised fund, without limitation and without the need to exercise expenditure responsibility. The technical explanation for the Pension Protection Act explicitly states: “A taxable distribution does…

A Vital Pipeline: How Donor Advised Funds Engage New Donors and Boost Communities Once again, commentator Alan Cantor has written a commentary on donor advised funds, this time for Inside Philanthropy. In the piece he reiterated comments he has made before, stating, “The surge in donor-advised…

In this week's Washington Snapshot: House Passes America Gives More Act of 2015; Other News from the Hill; News from the Administration; Trending in Legal Affairs; Philanthropy News & Op-Eds; and more! Read all this and more, online now!

This legislation includes several important provisions that will help charitable and philanthropic organizations serving communities in every Congressional District across the country. Specifically, H.R. 644 would permanently enact three temporary and currently expired giving incentives – the IRA…

Ways & Means Committee Passes Charitable Bills The House Ways and Means Committee met Wednesday to markup several important bills focused on the charitable sector. The actions included making permanent charitable “tax extenders,” such as the IRA charitable rollover and simplifying the…

House to Take Up Charitable Bills McCarthy's Memo Gives Signals According to a memo that House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA-23) circulated this week, the House is anitcipated to introduce and markup bills on the three charitable tax extenders: the IRA charitable rollover, enhanced…