CEI Joins Philanthropy Roundtable Coalition Letter

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Dear Members of Congress:

We write to you as organizations that care deeply about philanthropy to urge you to oppose the newly proposed “Initiative to Accelerate Charitable Giving.” Contrary to its title, this proposal would severely hamper Americans’ ability to give to causes they care about.

The core of the Initiative is a series of unnecessary and arbitrary regulations on donor-advised funds, which are an increasingly popular vehicle for charitable giving. Donor-advised funds allow individuals to donate as much as they can in a given year; they facilitate both immediate and long- term giving for a specific cause or local community. Beyond donor-advised funds, the Initiative also takes aim at a family’s ability to serve its own foundation, which would unfairly target smaller and less-wealthy institutions.

Throughout history, the freedom to give has been an indispensable part of America’s culture and social fabric. Charity helps us come together as a nation, overcome partisan divides, and face serious societal challenges, both now and in the future.The current COVID-19 pandemic is a case in point: Charitable giving was up 7.5 percent during the first half of 2020, and major donor-advised fund providers have seen both the value and number of charitable grants rise by about 50 percent.

It’s important to keep America’s charitable sector strong and vibrant by allowing people to easily give to the causes they care about.We call on you to oppose attempts to discourage donors or undermine important vehicles for charitable giving, particularly during times of crisis when philanthropic engagement is most needed.

Yours sincerely,

Jack Park

General Counsel

ACRU Action Fund

Lisa B. Nelson

CEO

ALEC Action

Michael Farris

President & CEO

Alliance Defending Freedom

Michael B. Poliakoff

President

American Council of Trustees and Alumni

Elliot Engstrom

Legal Director

American Juris Link

David R. Osborne

CEO

Americans for Fair Treatment

Catherine Glenn Foster

President & CEO

Americans United for Life

Justin Owen

President & CEO

Beacon Center of Tennessee

Will Swaim

President

California Policy Center

Scott Walter*

President

Capital Research Center

Clay Spence

Director

Cicero Institute

Ryan P. Williams

President

The Claremont Institute

Curt Levey

President

The Committee for Justice

Charles Mitchell

President & CEO

Commonwealth Foundation

Kent Lassman

President Competitive Enterprise Institute

Lawson R. Bader

President & CEO

DonorsTrust

Robert Enlow

President & CEO

EdChoice

Tim Hoefer

President & CEO

Empire Center for Public Policy

Clifford D. May

Founder & President Foundation for Defense of Democracies

Richard N. Lorenc

Executive Vice President Foundation for Economic Education

Jonathan Bechtle

COO & General Counsel Foundation for Government Accountability

Tom McCabe

CEO

Freedom Foundation

Annette Meeks

CEO

Freedom Foundation of Minnesota

Adam Brandon

President

FreedomWorks

Roger Ream

President & CEO

Fund for American Studies

Grace-Marie Turner

President

Galen Institute

Koppany Jordan

Development Associate

Georgia Center for Opportunity

Kyle Wingfield

President & CEO Georgia Public Policy Foundation

Victor Riches

President & CEO

Goldwater Institute

Cameron Macdonald

Director of Litigation

Government Justice Center, Inc.

Jessica Anderson

Executive Director

Heritage Action for America

Matthew Paprocki

President

Illinois Policy Institute

Dale L. Wilcox

Executive Director & General Counsel Immigration Reform Law Institute

Jon C. Caldara

President

Independence Institute

David J. Theroux

Founder, President & CEO

Independent Institute

Carrie Lukas

President

Independent Women’s Forum

F. Vincent Vernuccio

President  Institute for the American Worker

Dr. Robert McClure

President & CEO

The James Madison Institute

Becki Gray

Senior Vice President

John Locke Foundation

Connor Boyack

President

Libertas Institute

Patrick Hughes

President & Co-founder

Liberty Justice Center

Jim Walker

Vice President for Advancement

Mackinac Center for Public Policy

Heather Noyes

Director of Operations

Maine Policy Institute

Peter W. Wood

President

National Association of Scholars

Pete Sepp

President National Taxpayers Union

Mark Chenoweth

Executive Director

New Civil Liberties Alliance

Jonathan Small

President Oklahoma Council of Public Affairs

Steven D. Anderson

President & CEO

Pacific Legal Foundation

Sally C. Pipes

President & CEO

Pacific Research Institute

Ellen Weaver

President & CEO

Palmetto Promise Institute

Heather Lauer

Executive Director

People United for Privacy

Elise Westhoff

President & CEO

The Philanthropy Roundtable

James Stergios

Executive Director

Pioneer Institute

Jim Vokal

CEO

Platte Institute

Stacy Blakeley

Executive Director

The Policy Circle

Rupert Munro

Vice President of Development Property and Environment Research Center

J. Christian Adams

President

Public Interest Legal Foundation

Daniel E. Burrows*

Legal Director

Public Trust Institute

Heather R. Higgins

President

The Randolph Foundation

Tracie Sharp

President & CEO

State Policy Network

Claire Kittle Dixon

Executive Director

Talent Market

David Williams

President

Taxpayers Protection Alliance

Kevin D. Roberts, Ph.D.

Executive Director

Texas Public Policy Foundation

Daniel Mead Smith

President & CEO

Washington Policy Center

Carol Platt Liebau

President

Yankee Institute

*Affiliation listed for identification purposes only