Recent News

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Author: George C. Stevens
Publisher: Post and Courier
11/15/2009

Distrust big government? Worried about the idea of the feds providing health care? Why don't we tell Congress that we want to decide how health care dollars are spent? Let us decide who gets medical services, educational subsidies, food assistance, etc.

You already have that choice. Here's how it works. Federal and state governments let you decide how to allocate roughly a third of the taxes you would pay to them by making charitable gifts, which are tax deductible. You can direct those dollars to social services and other broadly-defined societal needs. If you think health care is the biggest need, you can allocate your taxes in that direction. Just tell the tax collector.

Most of us direct less than 3 percent of our income toward broad societal needs like health care, education or conservation. It appears that giving to charitable nonprofits was even less than that in the recession.

A tax deduction for a charitable gift in essence means you are spending locally dollars that were intended for the taxman. You are directing funds to people who serve here.

Roughly 7 percent of our local economy is driven by charitable gifts. Dollars that flow through local nonprofits pop back up as nonprofit employees spend their hard-earned salaries in our community.

When you consider that MUSC is a $2 billion operation and that most of its employees live here, you can see that the nonprofit sector is significant.

So how are nonprofits doing? Or rather, how are we all doing, since nonprofits are a big sector of the local business community? The short answer is "moderately well." Most nonprofits are doing about the same as the previous year. One executive director put it in perspective by saying, "Flat is the new up."

Nonprofits that directly serve people affected by the recession are generally experiencing increases in gifts. The Lowcountry Food Bank has seen more new donors as has Crisis Ministries. Both also have seen more need for their services. They are not quite keeping up with demand but are doing much better than they had expected.

Harder hit are organizations that are less visible in their service to those affected by the economic downturn. One example is the Dee Norton Lowcountry Children's Center serving abused children. Child abuse goes up as financial pressures increase.

Fewer charitably inclined folks have stepped up to help the center and other quiet providers like HALOS and Meals on Wheels.

And that is where Philanthropy Week and Coastal Community Foundation come in. Each year we, along with many other nonprofit organizations, celebrate philanthropy in the Lowcountry.

We help individuals give back to the community to help us all. Check out the Website, www.philanthropyweek.org.

GEORGE STEVENS
President/CEO
Coastal Community Foundation of South Carolina
Mary Street
Charleston