here - Montana Nonprofit Association

The Honorable Max BaucusUnited States SenateWashington, DC 20510RE: Senate Finance Committee Hearing October 18, 2011Tax Reform Options: “Incentives for Charitable Giving”Dear Senator Baucus,I am writing on behalf of the Montana Nonprofit Association (MNA) and our 650 nonprofitmembership organizations to urge your full support for the charitable giving incentives in federal taxlaw.Charitable contributions are vital to programs and services of Montana’s nonprofit organizations,and preserving incentives for charitable giving is absolutely critical to maintaining the capacity ofthis business sector to meet needs across Montana. Donors have resoundingly indicated thatdiminishing these incentives will diminish charitable giving. This would be disastrous to Montana’scharitable organizations community.During the upcoming Senate Finance Committee hearing, “Tax Reform Options: Incentives forCharitable Giving,” we ask that you publicly recognize the irreplaceable role nonprofits in Montanaplay in our economy as employers, as well as acknowledge that policymakers rely on charities tomeet the needs of the constituents that we jointly serve. We ask you to stand firm in opposing anyreductions or constraints against incentives for charitable giving.As a Montanan, you know well the unique position nonprofits occupy in our communities.Nonprofits serve as gathering places for our aging parents, hold Montana’s heritage safe in smalltownmuseums, protect our waterways, preserve our Native American cultures, and keep ourchildren safe and fed. In many cases, the nonprofit is the pivot point in Montana communities.Nonprofits are also an economic force. In Montana, we employ close to 10 percent of the state’sworkforce, contributing almost $1.3 billion in wages to Montana’s economy (Montana Departmentof Labor and Industry, June 2009). It’s worth noting that 19% of the revenues for Montana’snonprofit sector come from gifts, donations and grants. We don’t want to create barriers to thisgenerosity; a healthy charitable sector lessens the burden of government – one of the underlyingrationales for the charitable deduction.

The Senate Finance Committee hearing on charitable giving incentives is being conducted at a timewhen virtually all spending, tax, and entitlement policy priorities are under review by the JointSelect Committee on Deficit Reduction. Nonprofits in Montana will be shouldering the burden asfunding cuts reverberate in our communities. Government relies on us to be “boots on the ground”and we deliver. It is counterproductive to adopt policy that weakens our ability to be vital,responsive agents within our communities.Montana’s nonprofit organizations need you. Please be clear in articulating your support for thecharitable deduction and your opposition to proposals to reduce or cap the value of deductions forcharitable contributions. Over the past 19 days, almost two thousand charitable nonprofits fromthroughout the United States from all subsectors of the community – including 147 from Montana –have signed the attached community letter that will be delivered to the super committee. As youlisten to the witnesses during Tuesday’s hearing, please consider the following comments thataccompanied Montana signatories from charities working on our front lines:“The demand on our services has never been greater than today. Private nonprofits arefeeding, housing, and healing those most in need in our community. To take away the taxdeductions that make it possible for nonprofits like Helena Food Share to exist would breakthese entities, leaving only public services to help the citizens in need. Please don't throw thehungry and homeless under the bus in the process.”“In my 40 years of working in the charitable sector, both for Yellowstone Boys and GirlsRanch and as a consultant for many Montana charities covering the gamut from the rescuemission to the university, I have never been so concerned about the future of philanthropy …than I am today.”Custer Network Against Domestic Abuse “is a small non-profit corporation serving victimsof domestic violence, sexual assault & stalking in 5 eastern Montana counties. Theorganization depends on donations to help meet immediate needs of those victimized byviolence. Please make no change to the charitable giving incentive.”Employees and volunteers working at nonprofits every day for the common good in Montanacommunities and across the country are focused on the hard reality of how they will meet growingdemand for their services and programs under increasingly difficult economic and public policychallenges. Please stand firm in opposing any reduction to charitable giving incentives.Sincerely,Elizabeth A. MooreExecutive DirectorEnclosure: Letter to Policymakers from the Nonprofit Community

The Honorable Max BaucusUnited States SenateWashington, DC 20510Dear Chairman Baucus:Letter to Policymakers from the Nonprofit CommunityOctober 17, 2011The undersigned nonprofit organizations urge the Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reductionto expressly preserve the charitable deduction for individuals so that charitable contribution cancontinue to support the vital programs and services on which communities and policymakersrely.The work of nonprofit organizations throughout the United States, as reflected by the diverseorganizations identified below, improves lives, strengthens communities and the economy, andlightens the burdens of government, taxpayers, and society as a whole. Nonprofits employ morethan 13 million individuals nationally (representing 10 percent of the workforce) and contributemore than five percent to the Gross Domestic Product of the United States. Your constituentsrecognize the vital and ongoing work of nonprofit organizations in delivering essential services,enhancing their quality of life, and uplifting the spirit of faith, innovation, and inspiration in localcommunities across America.The Joint Select Committee will undoubtedly be considering cuts in federal spending andreforms to tax laws and entitlement programs. Those changes could undermine the ability ofnonprofits to maintain programs and services, much less to expand them to meet the increasedneeds that will result from the lagging economy and policy choices being made at all levels ofgovernment. Under these conditions, nonprofits may not merely be the next place for people inneed to turn; we are likely their only place to turn. Charitable nonprofits across America must beable to count on the current tax incentives for charitable giving if there is to be any validity in thepresumption of policymakers that nonprofit organizations will be there to fill the gaps.It is imperative that Congress make no changes to the charitable giving incentive that threatenthe ability of nonprofit organizations to serve those most in need and to continue to strengthenour communities. We ask that you avoid endangering the ability of nonprofits to serve yourconstituents and our communities by making a clear statement in support of the charitablededuction and in opposition to proposals to reduce or cap the value of itemized deductions forcharitable contributions.Sincerely,Montana Nonprofit Organizations**See preliminary list below

Adventure Cycling AssociationAlberta Bair TheaterALPS Foundation ServicesAnaconda Family Resource Center | Boys & Girls Club of Deer LodgeCountyAnimal Welfare LeagueArchie Bray FoundationArt Mobile of MontanaArthur M. Blank Family FoundationAscent Strategic DevelopmentBeartooth Billings Clinic FoundationBenefis Healthcare FoundationBig Brothers Big Sisters of Yellowstone County, Inc.Big Brothers Big Sisters of Butte Silver BowBig Brothers Big Sisters of Flathead CountyBig Brothers Big Sisters of Gallatin CountyBig Brothers Big Sisters of Park CountyBig Hole Watershed CommitteeBig Sky Inst. for the Advancement of NonprofitsBig Sky Senior Services, Inc.Bigfork Center for the Performing Arts FoundationBillings Community FoundationBillings Unitarian Universalist FellowshipBoys & Girls Club of the Hi-LineBroadwater Community Health FoundationBroadwater Productions, Inc.C.M. Russell MuseumCamp Mak-A-DreamCASA-CAN Guardians ad LitemCascade County Law ClinicCenter for Mental Health FoundationCentral Montana Youth Mentoring ProgramChild Care ResourcesChild Evaluation CenterCinnabar FoundationContinental Divide Trail AllianceCuster Network Against Domestic Abuse (CNADA)Eagle Mount BillingsEaster Seals - Goodwill Northern Rock MountainExplorationWorks!F.A.I.R. Community FoundationFamily Promise of Gallatin Valley, Inc.Family Service, Inc.Farm in the Dell, InternationalMissoulaBillingsMissoulaAnacondaLaurelHelenaDillonEmigrantBigforkRed LodgeGreat FallsBillingsButteKalispellBozemanLivingstonDivideHelenaBillingsBigforkBillingsBillingsHavreTownsendHelenaGreat FallsMissoulaGreat FallsGreat FallsGreat FallsLewistownMissoulaGreat FallsWhitefishKalispellMiles CityBillingsGreat FallsHelenaForsythBozemanBillingsHelena

Florence Crittenton HomeFort Peck Fine Arts CouncilFort William Henry Harrison Museum foundationFriends of the Stillwater County LibraryGlacier National Park FundGlacier Unitarian Universalist FellowshipGreat Falls Community Food BankGreat Falls SymphonyGreater Gallatin United WayGreater Glendive Community FoundationGreater Montana FoundationGreater Yellowstone Coalition, Inc.HAVENHealthy Mothers, Healthy Babies - MontanaHeart of the Valley Animal ShelterHelena Family YMCAHelena Food Share, Inc.High Stakes FoundationHistorical Museum at Fort MissoulaHomeword, Inc.Hospice Care FoundationHumane Society of Northwest MontanaHumanities MontanaInterfaith Hospitality Network of Yellowstone CountyJobs for Montana's Graduates FoundationKid's Club Child Care Center, Inc.Knowles Financial AdvisorsLeadership MontanaLewis & Clark County Historical SocietyLewistown Art CenterLiberty Place, Inc.Living Art of MontanaLost & Foundation, LtdLVA Butte Literacy ProgramMelissa Bangs ConsultingMental Health America of MontanaMissoula Community FoundationMissoula Development Service CorpsMissoula Urban Demonstration ProjectMontana Association of ChurchesMontana AudubonMontana Community FoundationMontana Conservation CorpsMontana Food Bank Network, Inc.Montana History FoundationHelenaGlasgowFort HarrisonColumbusColumbia FallsKalispellGreat FallsGreat FallsBozemanGlendiveHelenaBozemanBozemanHelenaBozemanHelenaHelenaArleeMissoulaMissoulaMissoulaKalispellMissoulaBillingsHelenaColumbusGreat FallsBillingsHelena,LewistownWhitehallMissoulaHelenaButteMissoulaBozemanMissoulaMissoulaMissoulaHelenaHelenaHelenaBozemanMissoulaHelena

Montana Indian Education AssociationMontana Learning Center at Canyon Ferry LakeMontana Nonprofit AssociationMontana State Alliance of YMCA'sMontana State University - Northern FoundationMontana State University Billings FoundationMontana Youth Homes Rocky Mountain Development CouncilMuseum of Women's HistoryNAMI BillingsNAMI MontanaNational Coalition Building Institute of MissoulaNational Institute on Money in State PoliticsNative American Community Development CorporationNC FoundationNeighborWorksNkwusmNorthwest Montana Historical SocietyOld Trail MuseumOneness ProjectOptions Women's ClinicPhilanthropic Education Organization, Chapter BMPlanned Parenthood of MontanaPrayer LodgeProject Hope of ColumbusPSIA-NRM Education FoundationRed Lodge Area Community FoundationRiver City HarvestRiverstone Health FoundationRural Dynamics, Inc.Rural Employment OpportunitiesSafe HarborSage Solutions Nonprofit Consulting, LLCStafford Animal Shelter, Humane Society of Park CountySTEP, Inc.Sun River Watershed GroupTeton Medical Center FoundationThe Center for Children and FamiliesThe Compassionate Friends of Stillwater ValleyThe Extreme History ProjectThe MonDak Heritage CenterThe Nurturing Center, Inc.ThriveTobacco Valley Community FoundationUnited Citizens Inc.United Way of Butte and AnacondaBillingsHelenaHelenaBillingsHavreBillingsHelenaBillingsBillingsHelenaMissoulaHelenaBrowningHelenaGreat FallsArleeKalispellChoteauHamiltonHelenaKalispellBillingsBusbyColumbusBozemanRed LodgeGreat FallsBillingsGreat FallsHelenaRonanBig TimberLivingstonBillingsGreat FallsChoteauBillingsColumbusLivingstonSidneyKalispellBozemanEurekaForsythButte

United Way of Missoula CountyUnited Way of Yellowstone CountyVictim-Witness Assistance ServicesVSA MontanaWheatland Memorial HealthcareWhitefish Community FoundationWhitefish Legacy PartnersWise River Community FoundationWomen in ActionYellowstone Art MuseumYellowstone AssociationYellowstone Boys and Girls Ranch FoundationYellowstone Club Community FoundationYellowstone Park FoundationYoung Families Early Head Start, Inc.YWCA MissoulaMissoulaBillingsGreat FallsMissoulaHarlowtonWhitefishWhitefishWise RiverBig SkyBillingsGardinerBillingsBozemanBozemanBillingsMissoula