Who is Stephanie Storm and why does she hate philanthropy?

I don't know if you saw today's article in the Grey Lady, http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/06/business/06giving.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1&hp,

but the title caught my eye: Big Gifts, Tax Breaks and a Debate on Charity. It's part of the Age of Riches Times series about the new phenomenon of wealth creation at a time when the middle class is shrinking. This installment is pretty much a screed about High Net Worth (HNW) individuals giving mega-gifts (over $50 mil) and how they are cheating the government from tax dollars.

It's full of juicy quotes like: “For every three dollars they give away, the federal government typically gives up a dollar or more in tax revenue, because of the charitable tax deduction and by not collecting estate taxes." and "I don’t think we’re getting the bang for the buck for gifts to build football stadiums and concert halls. “I don’t think the public would vote for spending tax dollars on those things.” As if American anywhere have been gung-ho to vote to increase taxes on anything, not even to support schools or the help the homeless. What's interesting to me is that the Right has been extremely effective at convincing mainstream Americans that government is bad, bad, bad, and increasing taxes is wrong, wrong, wrong, while stealthily increasing the kinds of deductions that the wealthy can take so that they are even paying less tax than people at the bottom of the income spectrum! (Read the article!)

Stephanie goes on to say that " Research shows that less than 10 percent of the money Americans give to charity addresses basic human needs, like sheltering the homeless, feeding the hungry and caring for the indigent sick, and that the wealthiest typically devote an even smaller portion of their giving to such causes than everyone else." When you talk about sheltering the homeless and caring for the sick, this is part of Government’s job, supported by an equitable tax system. If Stephanie wants to critique spending habits, why didn't she mention my favorite stat, that Americans spend more on pets, $41 Billion a year, while the Feds spend only $1.928 Billion on homelessness? And I don’t think that private philanthropy made up the difference. Should it?

We need this new wealth class to give more, not less, and we need tax reform so tax payment is equitable among income levels - What we don't need are dis-incentives to give. It would be nice to see that in the ole Grey Lady.

Fundraising For Social Change

Welcome to FundraisingForSocialChange. I am a fundraising consultant based in San Francisco - I'm passionate about fundraising, and I see it as my role in the broader social change movement - my job is to help groups gain the resources they need to create the change they want to see - and I love it! This blog will be dedicated to all topics about fundraising, development, nonprofit issues and philanthropy. It's the beginning of the fall fundraising season, so off to the races!