Leadership Briefings on Reforming Philanthropy: Fixing Philanthropy and the Tax Code

Foundations, donor-advised funds, nonprofit fundraising and funding . . . all these institutions and vehicles were formed and shaped by the U.S. tax code. This set of laws govern income tax deductions, estate taxes, charitable deductions for works of art and crypto currency, and tax-exemption for a wide array of nonprofits. In fact, “The [tax code] does more to shape American economic life than any other” as Ray Madoff remarks in her celebrated new book on taxes.

In short, to change philanthropy, shape individual giving, and to address a wide array of social concerns, we must understand taxes and enact changes in tax law, yet discussion of tax issues is rare in the field. We mean to change that.

🔹 Ray Madoff, Professor, Boston College Law School and author of The Second Estate: How the Tax Code Made an American Aristocracy
🔹 Alex Reid, Partner at Baker Hostetler, former Chair, American Bar Association Tax-Exempt Organizations Committee 
🔹 Jon Pratt, Co-Chair, Philanthropy Project, board member of the BBB Wise Giving Alliance, and former CEO, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits
🔹 Jan Masaoka, Co-Chair, Philanthropy Project (moderator)

Americans give roughly $600 billion annually to nonprofits, and the federal government forgoes roughly $55–80 billion annually in tax revenue from charitable deductions. A defining feature is that the tax subsidy is much larger for high-income itemizers and close to zero for most non-itemizers. What are the goals of tax incentives for giving, and are those goals being achieved?

This session is the third in a series of Leadership Briefings on changing philanthropy. The first focused on private foundations; the second on donor-advised funds, and this session on tax policy guiding giving and grantmaking. These briefings are hosted by The Philanthropy Project and co-sponsored by CalNonprofits, National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, Nonprofit Quarterly, Center for Nonprofit Advancement, Nonprofit AF, and the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits.