IRF Update - August 31, 2011

Debt Deal Super Committee Could Look at Charitable Deduction

The congressional debt deal "super committee," charged with determining how to reduce the federal deficit, could consider proposals to reduce or cap the value of the charitable deduction.

In addition to raising the U.S. debt ceiling, the Budget Control Act of 2011 (S. 365) created a 12-member, bipartisan Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction (also known as the super committee) to determine how to reduce the federal deficit. If the committee fails to identify spending cuts or revenue increases by Thanksgiving, federal agencies will be subject to across the board spending cuts.

To raise revenue, the super committee may consider President Barack Obama's proposal to cap itemized deductions, including the charitable deduction, at 28 percent for high-income taxpayers (individuals earning $200,000 annually, $250,000 for households). According to the president's FY2012 budget plan (pdf), this proposal would raise more than $300 billion over 10 years. However, congressional Republicans have indicated they will not support revenue-raising proposals.

CASE strongly opposes proposals that would reduce the value of the charitable deduction. On July 14, CASE and 22 other nonprofit associations and organizations sent a joint letter (pdf) to lawmakers urging them to protect the value of the charitable deduction by opposing efforts to cap the value of itemized deductions for charitable contributions. CASE will also share this message with members of the super committee:

• Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), co-chair
• Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Texas), co-chair
• Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.)
• Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-Calif.)
• Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.)
• Rep. Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.)
• Sen. John Kerry (D-Mich.)
• Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)
• Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio)
• Sen. Pat Toomey (R-Pa.)
• Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.)
• Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.)

CASE members are encouraged to share updated talking points and background information with their government relations staff and donors. Subscribe to CASE's legislative RSS feed for the latest developments on efforts to reduce the value of the charitable deduction.

New Listserv for IRF Financial, Operations Staff

Have questions or ideas you want to share with your colleagues in institutionally related foundation management, budget and finance? Join CASE ‘s new IRF-CFO-L, a listserv exclusively for IRF financial and operations staff members, including chief operations officers and chief financial officers.

To join IRF-CFO-L, visit the CASE website. Note that IRF-CFO-L is open only to IRF financial and operations staff. All foundation staff members are welcome to join IRF-L, CASE's general listserv for institutionally related foundation professionals. If you have questions, please contact Brian Flahaven at flahaven@case.org or 202-478-5617.

Community College Foundations: Register for CASE's Free VSE Survey Webinar

The Voluntary Support of Education survey is considered by many to be the authoritative national source of information on private giving to higher education. However, community college participation in the survey has remained low. Of the 938 two-year schools that were mailed surveys last year (pdf), only 155 took part. Arguing that the survey is an invaluable tool for their field, many community college officials say they would like to see more of their peers participate.

On Wednesday, Sept. 21, CASE will host a free webinar for community college foundations on the VSE survey, which is managed by the Council for Aid to Education and co-sponsored by CASE. The webinar will provide an introduction to the survey, show some of the many ways community college advancement professionals can use data from it, and provide guidance on completing the instrument. Featured speakers include:

• Susan K. Kubik, executive director, Northampton Community College Foundation and past recipient of the CASE Commonfund Institutionally Related Award
• Ann Kaplan, director of the VSE survey, Council for Aid to Education

Register for the webinar on the CASE website.

The webinar is one of many programs and resources being offered by the CASE Center for Community College Advancement.

Researchers interviewed more than 450 colleges and universities in all 50 U.S. states for the study on higher education social media use by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth's Center for Marketing Research.

"Colleges and universities are using social media, especially social networking sites, not only to recruit but to research prospective students," wrote study authors Nora Ganim Barnes and Ava M. Lescault. "Additionally, schools are now moving away from some tools and embracing others, demonstrating a more strategic approach to their online communications."

Facebook is still the most common network used with 98 percent of colleges and universities having accounts. Bigger jumps in adoption were found with Twitter (84 percent, up from 59 percent) and podcasting (from 22 to 41 percent) since 2009-2010. The study also included Foursquare and YouTube for the first time and found that 20 percent and 86 percent of schools, respectively, used the channels.

The study also found that:

• Almost half of admissions professionals are now on LinkedIn.
• The number of school blogs that did not accept comments declined from 37 percent in 2007 to 15 percent in 2010. "Schools are mastering the tool and embracing its true spirit of two-way conversation," wrote the authors.
• Forty-four percent of schools now have a blogging or social media policy in place, up from 32 percent last year.

Learn more about the study.

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Contact Brian Flahaven, director of legislative, foundation and recognition programs, at flahaven@case.org.