By Nancy F. Geiger, Interim Chief Executive Officer, Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, Seattle
Some non-profit reform issues being considered by the Senate Finance Committee were included in the Senate Tax Reconciliation Act of 2005, which is now in Conference Committee between the U.S. Senate and the House. The bill deals with many aspects of tax policy, some of which include policies related to public charities. We strongly support those provisions that are designed to reduce improper or abusive practices. However, many provisions would make it harder for legitimate charities to raise and distribute funding, and would curtail current donors from recommending and making the charitable grants that they would like.
For example, one of the proposed rules would likely prevent distributions from donor-advised funds from being used to pay synagogue dues. We feel that many of the proposed provisions are not in the best interests of donors or the charities they support, and should therefore not be passed.
I strongly urge you to visit www.jewishinseattle.org to see the action alert containing details of our top concerns and information about why we feel these provisions should be modified or eliminated in the legislation. The alert will also contain a draft e-letter to your U.S. congressional representatives, urging them to communicate your opinion on this matter to their colleagues who sit on the conference committee.
It will take you less than one minute to complete the name and address boxes of the legislative alert and to click ?send? so that this message can be routed electronically to your representative and senators. If you wish to modify any of the text of the message, you may do so, but it is not necessary to change or personalize the content to have an impact. Alerts sent immediately are critical for affecting the outcome of this legislation.
Thank you for consideration of this issue. If you would like further information about this issue or would otherwise like to discuss it, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Nancy F. Geiger
Interim Chief Executive Officer
Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle