Program Spotlight December 2012

Women 4 Women challenges the community to reach $100,000 Impact Goal

by Gwen Cooper, Executive Director

Have you Joined 4 A Voice and become part of Women 4 Women's 2012 Community Impact Campaign?

Women 4 Women has been impacting the lives of women and girls in our community for 20 years, we've poured over $8 Million in resources and touched over 70,000 lives.   Now, we ask that you join us in our Impact Challenge for 2012.

Our goal is to raise $100,000 from the women in our community to provide impact grants to local organizations in 2013-and we are well on our way to reaching our initial $100,000 goal. To date, over $63,000 in individual donations has been donated towards our goal.  Will you join us and provide your Voice in making an Impact in 2012?

Click here to make your donation or mail your gift to Women 4 Women 323 W, Broadway, Ste. 502, Louisville, KY, 40202.

Protect the Charitable Donation

It is gift giving season and as the executive director, it is part of my job to ask for end of the year gifts. Of course, part of our asking for gifts is to remind individuals that their gift is tax deductible. But that tax benefit is in danger of ending as of January 1, 2013 if we "go off the fiscal cliff".

According to the Alliance for Charitable Reform more than 250 nonprofit and charitable sector leaders will descend on Washington, D.C. this month for "Protect Giving – D.C. Days" to urge members of Congress and their staff to protect the charitable tax deduction during "the fiscal cliff" and deficit negotiations.

The charitable deduction is a 100-year-old American tradition of common-sense tax policies that help support critical programs and services on which millions of Americans rely upon. According to Steve Taylor of the United Way, the deduction was added as a tax benefit when Congress first created income tax. The wisdom of our forefathers was clear; they were concerned that if you taxed the income of individuals they would reduce their gifts to charity. Providing a tax deduction for charitable contributions saved the nonprofit industry and this deduction has been in place for most of the lives of all Americans.

In short, because American's don't remember not having this tax benefit, the non-profit industry has no way to know what the monetary impact of loosing this deduction might be. There is much speculation that those who deduct charitable gifts on their taxes would simply reduce the gift amount by the taxes that they would have saved.

This could have drastic impact on the available programs and services provided by non-profits. Just think about where charity dollars go: hurricane relief, research, afterschool child care, food banks, etc. Less donated money means less programs and services and this will impact those most needy, those at the bottom of the economic spectrum.

But, it is not just the less fortunate that would be impacted. Think about those that work in nonprofits, specifically those that provide some of the best entertainment in our community. Think about those who work in Fund for the Arts supported agencies. Less charitable donations to the Louisville Opera or the Orchestra or Actors Theatre could result in job losses because there won't be enough money to pay the salaries of the very people who entertain our consumers.

In short, cutting the tax deduction on charitable contributions could have a far more reaching economic impact than it would by leaving it alone. It's a domino effect, less money for the Opera means less events to attend, which potentially decreases revenue to the city in the form of parking fees, restaurant patronage and even in teenage wages. Teenage wages??? Those who attend these events often get babysitters for their children, no events, no need for babysitters, and no pay for teenagers.

Cutting the tax deduction for charitable contributions is not the answer to our country's economic crisis and it is not a federal problem. The ramifications will affect us locally, statewide, regionally, and nationally.

So what can you do to protect the charitable deduction? The Alliance suggests the following:

• Send emails to your representatives. You can download a generic letter by clicking the template below and tailor it to our local community. The link to elected officals is below the template link.acreform.com/images/uploads/Elected_Official_Letter_FINAL.docx
  www.house.gov/representatives/find/ and www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm
• Blog about the charitable deduction 
• Tweet your support for the charitable deduction to #protectgiving
• Shoot a quick video on your phone or computer talking about your support for the charitable deduction and share it with various sources. The Alliance website has some great videos that you can post to your Facebook page.
• Multiply the impact – Ask your friends and colleagues to: send emails to their representatives, promote your blog posting or blog themselves, and tweet to #protectgiving
• Write a letter to the editor of your local paper
• Ask our local TV station management staff to do their weekly editorial on protecting the charitable deduction.

I don't want to see our fundraising efforts drastically reduced by the disappearance of this tax benefit. We need your help and your voice to protect this necessary deduction. For more information on the Alliance for Charitable Reform, visit here.