Support H.R. 6049 to Extend Federal Charitable Giving Incentives!

This week, the U.S. Senate will be voting on H.R. 6049, The Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008. Although the core of this bill pertains to energy tax extenders, it would also provide one year extensions to a number of charitable giving incentives that were originally passed as part of the 2006 Pension Protection Act.

If passed, the bill would also extend deductions for contributions of food inventories, books and computers to public schools, all of which would expire. The bill would not create new charitable giving incentives, but would extend existing ones.

Please contact your Senator and ask him or her to support H.R. 6049, The Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008. This action alert includes sample language and a direct link to send an email to your Representative. Since Senators often give more weight to personal responses rather than automatically generated ones, it is recommended that you either make a phone call or personalize the email as much as possible and relate it to your organization's experiences.

Better yet, go to http://givevoice.org/coloradononprofits/home.html to look up your Senator.

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Talking Points

H.R. 6049 extends existing incentives for charitable giving, it does not create new incentives.
Extending these incentives would provide more valuable opportunities for donors and businesses to continue supporting nonprofits through donations of cash and non-cash items.
Seniors who do not itemize their charitable contributions would still be able to reap the tax benefits of donating directly from their IRA to a charity.
As most of the public demands a lean and efficient government, charitable giving incentives allow the government to support nonprofits that are carrying out essential services for the public good.
Individual charitable gifts provide nearly $4 billion in revenue for Colorado nonprofits
A survey by the National Committee on Planned Giving reported that donors throughout the nation made nearly 8700 gifts through the IRA rollover totalling more than $140 million. Gifts ranged from $10 to $100,000.

Subject:

Dear [ Decision Maker ],

(Edit Letter Below)

On behalf of [organization], I am writing to express our support for the extension of  the IRA charitable rollover provision and other charitable giving incentives included in H.R. 6049, the Energy and Tax Extenders Act of 2008.

As you know, the Pension Protection Act in August 2006 enacted several incentives designed to support important charitable works in communities throughout the country and internationally.

The IRA Charitable Rollover provision provides persons aged 70 and a half and older with the opportunity to contribute to charity out of their individual retirement accounts without suffering adverse tax consequences.

Nearly 8700 gifts have been reported nationwide since 2006, according to a National Committee on Planned Giving, totalling approximately $140 million of revenue for charities.

[Through this essential giving program, we have been able to devote an additional $_____ to our mission of [description]. [If available, give examples of persons or communities benefiting from an IRA rollover donation].

The Energy and Tax Extenders Act also renews for one year several other provisions from the 2006 Pension Protection Act that deserve to be continued including deductions for contributions of food inventory, books, and computers.

Unless Congress takes action soon, these charitable giving incentives expire, thus depriving thousands of charitable organizations of the resources needed to serve the public good.

We therefore urge you to vote for final passage of H.R. 6049, the Energy and Tax Extenders Act, when it comes to the Senate floor this week.

Sincerely,
[Your name]
[Your address]

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