Today, The Philanthropy Roundtable, along with 64 other free-market and conservative organizations, sent a coalition letter to members of Congress urging them to reject new restrictions on charitable giving proposed by the “Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving.” Rather than accelerating giving, the initiative’s proposal would make it harder for smaller donors to help those in need and decrease overall giving in the long run.
The text of the letter is below. You may download a PDF copy of the letter here.
Dear Members of Congress:
We write to you as organizations that care deeply about philanthropy to urge you to oppose the newly proposed “Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving.” Contrary to its title, this proposal would severely hamper Americans’ ability to give to causes they care about.
The core of the Initiative is a series of unnecessary and arbitrary regulations on donor-advised funds, which are an increasingly popular vehicle for charitable giving. Donor-advised funds allow individuals to donate as much as they can in a given year; they facilitate both immediate and long- term giving for a specific cause or local community. Beyond donor-advised funds, the Initiative also takes aim at a family’s ability to serve its own foundation, which would unfairly target smaller and less-wealthy institutions.
Throughout history, the freedom to give has been an indispensable part of America’s culture and social fabric. Charity helps us come together as a nation, overcome partisan divides, and face serious societal challenges, both now and in the future. The current COVID-19 pandemic is a case in point: Charitable giving was up 7.5 percent during the first half of 2020, and major donor-advised fund providers have seen both the value and number of charitable grants rise by about 50 percent.
It’s important to keep America’s charitable sector strong and vibrant by allowing people to easily give to the causes they care about. We call on you to oppose attempts to discourage donors or undermine important vehicles for charitable giving, particularly during times of crisis when philanthropic engagement is most needed.
Yours sincerely,
Jack Park
General Counsel
ACRU Action Fund
Lisa B. Nelson
CEO
ALEC Action
Michael Farris
President & CEO
Alliance Defending Freedom
Michael B. Poliakoff
President
American Council of Trustees and Alumni
Elliot Engstrom
Legal Director
American Juris Link
David R. Osborne
CEO
Americans for Fair Treatment
Catherine Glenn Foster
President & CEO
Americans United for Life
Justin Owen
President & CEO
Beacon Center of Tennessee
Will Swaim
President
California Policy Center
Scott Walter*
President
Capital Research Center
Clay Spence
Director
Cicero Institute
Ryan P. Williams
President
The Claremont Institute
Curt Levey
President
The Committee for Justice
Charles Mitchell
President & CEO
Commonwealth Foundation
Kent Lassman
President
Competitive Enterprise Institute
Lawson R. Bader
President & CEO
DonorsTrust
Robert Enlow
President & CEO
EdChoice
Tim Hoefer
President & CEO
Empire Center for Public Policy
Clifford D. May
Founder & President
Foundation for Defense of Democracies
Richard N. Lorenc
Executive Vice President
Foundation for Economic Education
Jonathan Bechtle
COO & General Counsel
Foundation for Government Accountability
Tom McCabe
CEO
Freedom Foundation
Annette Meeks
CEO
Freedom Foundation of Minnesota
Adam Brandon
President
FreedomWorks
Roger Ream
President & CEO
Fund for American Studies
Grace-Marie Turner
President
Galen Institute
Koppany Jordan
Development Associate
Georgia Center for Opportunity
Kyle Wingfield
President & CEO
Georgia Public Policy Foundation
Victor Riches
President & CEO
Goldwater Institute
Cameron Macdonald
Director of Litigation
Government Justice Center, Inc.
Jessica Anderson
Executive Director
Heritage Action for America
Matthew Paprocki
President
Illinois Policy Institute
Dale L. Wilcox
Executive Director & General Counsel
Immigration Reform Law Institute
Jon C. Caldara
President
Independence Institute
David J. Theroux
Founder, President & CEO
Independent Institute
Carrie Lukas
President
Independent Women’s Forum
F. Vincent Vernuccio
President
Institute for the American Worker
Dr. Robert McClure
President & CEO
The James Madison Institute
Becki Gray
Senior Vice President
John Locke Foundation
Connor Boyack
President
Libertas Institute
Patrick Hughes
President & Co-founder
Liberty Justice Center
Jim Walker
Vice President for Advancement
Mackinac Center for Public Policy
Heather Noyes
Director of Operations
Maine Policy Institute
Peter W. Wood
President
National Association of Scholars
Pete Sepp
President
National Taxpayers Union
Mark Chenoweth
Executive Director
New Civil Liberties Alliance
Jonathan Small
President
Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs
Steven D. Anderson
President & CEO
Pacific Legal Foundation
Sally C. Pipes
President & CEO
Pacific Research Institute
Ellen Weaver
President & CEO
Palmetto Promise Institute
Heather Lauer
Executive Director
People United for Privacy
Elise Westhoff
President & CEO
The Philanthropy Roundtable
James Stergios
Executive Director
Pioneer Institute
Jim Vokal
CEO
Platte Institute
Stacy Blakeley
Executive Director
The Policy Circle
Rupert Munro
Vice President of Development
Property and Environment Research Center
J. Christian Adams
President
Public Interest Legal Foundation
Daniel E. Burrows*
Legal Director
Public Trust Institute
Heather R. Higgins
President
The Randolph Foundation
Tracie Sharp
President & CEO
State Policy Network
Claire Kittle Dixon
Executive Director
Talent Market
David Williams
President
Taxpayers Protection Alliance
Kevin D. Roberts, Ph.D.
Executive Director
Texas Public Policy Foundation
Daniel Mead Smith
President & CEO
Washington Policy Center
Carol Platt Liebau
President
Yankee Institute
*Affiliation listed for identification purposes only
You may download a PDF copy of the letter here.
