Tax breaks for charitable giving?

Kim Klein teaches non-profit leaders how to raise money. She wrote a terrific book, Fundraising for Social Change, and founded the Grassroots Fundraising Journal. If you have a good cause, they are excellent resources.

But in recent years, schools, fire departments and even the mothers of soldiers have mounted effective fund-raising campaigns. They used to be fully funded by taxes. Now they are competing with homeless shelters and anti-war groups for scarce funds.

This has led Kim to develop workshops on tax policy. How much do we want to pay and what do we want for our money?

In this vein, on January 6 she posted a blog saying that we should abolish the charitable tax deduction. The philanthropic world is a small one and Kim has started a maelstrom there.

While there’s never been a big Catholic emphasis on tithing, we are generous too, so I expect NCR readers will also care about this matter of tax deductions for our charitable gifts. Here’s the link to Kim’s blog.