Please reach out to your local legislators as both the House and Senate work to increase the Universal Charitable Deduction.

The Girls Scouts of the the USA and the National Council of Nonprofits hosted a call yesterday:
From Common Ground to Congressional Action: Advancing the Universal Charitable Deduction. More than 4,000 people registered to hear from the bipartisan group of Senators who spoke in support of enhancing incentives to donate to nonprofits. The recording is now posted on YouTube.

On yesterday’s call, the Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Chris Coons (D-DE), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), James Lankford (R-OK) and Jeanne Shaheen (D- NH) expressed their unified support for increasing the $300 above-the-line deduction that was included in the CARES Act to a third of the standard deduction, or about $4,000 for individuals and about $8,000 for couples, and applying the deduction to tax years 2019 and 2020. Their bill will be introduced soon and they are looking to the nonprofit community to advocate with all other Senators and Representatives to convince them to support the expanded above-the-line deduction. Read more in this Politico article, starting at “Negotiations Continue.” See also the news releases from Senators Coons, Lee, and Shaheen.

Senator Lee said in his closing comments, “Please help us to help you make the country better.” Girl Scouts of the USA CEO Sylvia Acevedo was more direct: “I encourage you to contact other Senators in support of the universal charitable deduction bill. And I challenge you to share your stories with the media, reach out to the local newspapers, and include the #Relief4Charities hashtag in social media messages.” “Raise a call to action,” she urged, and then asked: “If not now, then when?”

The House has bill H.R.6490- Coronavirus Help And Response Initiative Through Year 2022 Act or the CHARITY 2022 Act in front of the Ways and Means Committee currently that is proposing the same above-the-line deductions. This bill was proposed Rep. Mark Walker (R-NC-6)