Government and Regulation

An influx of new lawmakers means the best chance for action on the charitable deduction and other issues nonprofits care about is during the next few weeks, when the old Congress will be moving through legislation, advocates say. But it’s also crucial to start educating new lawmakers who don’t understand how nonprofits and foundations work, they said.

Lack of a decisive victory for either party means that nonprofits could have a stronger chance of getting legislation they care about moving, including extending access to the charitable deduction to more Americans.

Some 85 percent of adults say federal charity deductions shouldn’t be limited to just the wealthiest.

Jan Masaoka, longtime leader of the California Association of Nonprofits, has a biting wit and a willingness to challenge donors that both friends and detractors agree make her a formidable voice for charities.

A lot of legislative activity that would affect nonprofits is brewing in Congress in the months and years ahead.

A flat payroll tax applied to all organizations, regardless of size or mission, hurts charities, which struggle to pay enough to attract workers in today’s tight labor market. The solution is a progressive payroll tax that excludes any nonprofit with fewer than 100 employees.

Politicians on both sides of the aisle stand in the way of preventing tragedies like the mass shootings in Buffalo and Uvalde, Tex., says the founder of Guns Down America.

Despite controversies swirling around donor-advised funds, efforts aimed at speeding money from DAFs are of minimal interest to most fundraisers. On a recent well-attended webinar on managing and using gifts from the funds, the subject didn’t even come up.

The role that foundations and nonprofits are playing in election activities is getting drawn into the fight over whether donor secrecy is harming American democracy.

The office would make policy recommendations, coordinate the release of data about nonprofits collected by federal agencies, and seek improvements in the federal grant process for nonprofits.