Promoting The Charitable Act With Senator Klobuchar

On Sunday, 4/14, Senator Klobuchar was joined by MCF, the Women’s Foundation of Minnesota, Minnesota Council of Nonprofits, and the East Side Freedom Library to promote The Charitable Act (S.566/H.R. 3435). With Tax Day right around the corner, the press conference was used to highlight a key sector priority – creating a universal charitable deduction at the federal level.

MCF President, Susie Brown, spoke to MCF’s interest in the issue, “Today, we are proud to stand with Senator Klobuchar and our Minnesota nonprofit and philanthropic partners to voice our support for The Charitable Act. The Charitable Act would broaden access to the federal charitable giving incentive, bringing more equity to the tax code and incentivizing more people at all income levels to contribute to the causes that they care about in their communities.”

Nationally, individual charitable giving trends paint a concerning picture for nonprofits and the communities they serve. According to the Giving USA 2023 report, individual giving declined 13.4% after adjusted for inflation in 2022, only the fourth time that donations have fallen in the last 40 years. In addition to the decline in dollars, fewer households are giving to charity. A report from the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy indicates just under half of U.S. households made a charitable contribution in 2018, down from two-thirds in 2000.

MCF believes that The Charitable Act could serve as an important antidote to these national trends – by providing a charitable giving incentive to more taxpayers, we expect to see additional giving and broader participation. In addition to Senator Klobuchar’s leadership on this bipartisan issue in the Senate, three members of the Minnesota delegation serve as co-sponsors of the bill in the House, Rep. Craig, Rep. Stauber, and Rep. Phillips.

View a CBS News Minnesota clip about the event here.