Articles
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Some thoughts on OBBBA
August 7, 2025
While I was off the grid, the Wall Street Journal published some astute analysis of the likely effects of the One Big Beautiful Bill on giving, with some excellent thoughts from a variety of experts. The upshot is that it will be hard to predict the overall effect of the bill on giving. Though the changes to tax incentives for giving are very large, some will act to increase giving, while others will decrease it. The overall effect on charitable giving therefore looks ambiguous. Some unsigned posts on the Nonprofit Law Blog here, here and here note that published estimates of the effects of these different provisions suggest that they will roughly cancel each other out, and that attempts by tax planners to move giving between tax years may obfuscate the size of the response for some time to come.
I’m willing to make a specific prediction: compared to the world where the OBBBA did not become law, Americans will give less to charity. The effect size won’t be ruinous, but especially for charities that depend on philanthropic support, it will matter.
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Giving USA 2025 out
July 15, 2025
The 2025 edition of Giving USA was posted today. Online, in PDF format, at least; paper editions of the book have been hard to find in recent years, alas. The Giving USA report contains time series estimates for the United States of charitable giving in the aggregate as well as by charitable area and type of donor. The new report updates numbers through calendar year 2024. Here are a few observations.
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Federal Tax Law List, 2025 edition
July 11, 2025
I have updated my running list of US federal laws affecting the charitable contribution deduction to include the 2025 One Big Beautiful Bill Act.Do we have to keep calling it a beautiful bill if it’s now an act? Doesn’t feel very Schoolhouse Rock… The OBBBA25 includes many changes to the tax treatment of nonprofits and charitable contributions; I’ll write more about those specific changes and their likely effects later.
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Renewing and recurring
July 10, 2025
The giving rate is falling in the United States. Over time, fewer and fewer people report giving to charity. It is a worrying sign for the nonprofit sector, but there is reason for hope as well.
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Hello, and welcome
July 9, 2025
It is a challenging time for charities and nonprofits in the United States. This blog is an attempt to help.