Oct 12, 2012
2012 Philanthropy Roundtable Annual Meeting Recap
Last week (October 11-12), The Philanthropy Roundtable hosted its 2012 Annual Meeting in Palm Beach, Florida. Themed “The American Spirit of Giving” this year’s conference celebrated the unique and generous spirit of Americans to solve problems for their communities, without waiting for government to act. Read president Adam Meyerson’s welcome remarks for a reminder of just how much Americans give away and why that generosity needs to be protected and encouraged. The Roundtable also officially launched the Philanthropy Hall of Fame, an online catalogue of great donors (all posthumous) who changed the nation and the world through their giving.
The Alliance for Charitable Reform offered several sessions on public policy issues affecting the charitable sector. Beginning with “Taxmageddon: Renegotiating the Relationship Between Government and the Charitable Sector?” tax and policy experts examined the nation’s fiscal problems including looming mandatory spending cuts and tax increases, and long-awaited reform of the tax code. Against this backdrop they discussed implications for a possible reshaping of the role of government and its relationship with the charitable sector. For more on this session read our blog update.
Charitable Deduction Should Be a Constitutional Right, Says Lawyer
The Chronicle of Philanthropy reported on a bold idea proposed during this session from noted nonprofit legal expert Cleta Mitchell, partner with Foley and Lardner, to propose a constitutional amendment protecting the charitable deduction. Click here to read the full story.
Picking up from where “Taxmageddon” left off, a panel of policy experts examined the latest policy developments and how philanthropy can prepare for the next big policy challenges in “The Shifting Policy Landscape: What’s Ahead for Donors and Nonprofits?” Finally, the Roundtable hosted “Transparency, Accountability, and Effectiveness: What are the Connections?” as part of an on-going series of discussions that aim to address nuances of transparency this issue that are often overlooked with a particular focus on the role of government in private grantmaking.