NEW YORK — Christie Herrera says that as the new president and CEO of Philanthropy Roundtable, she plans to fight for the principles the advocacy group has always valued. But Herrera, who was officially promoted in mid-October, acknowledges that the battle is becoming tougher and more complicated than ever.
“The Roundtable will be who we have always been – and that is a home for donors who share our values,” she said. “We will continue to be passionate about philanthropy, about values-based giving, about philanthropic freedom and about philanthropic excellence – the essence of giving that I think the philanthropic sector has gotten away with some of the social problems they address up.”
However, there are numerous challenges to the Roundtable’s values – even from fellow conservatives. The House Ways and Means Committee, led by Republican Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, is investigating the political activities of tax-exempt organizations and wrote that “Congress may need to consider closing increasing loopholes that prevent the use of a enable tax exemption to influence US elections.” The legislation in the Senate, co-sponsored by Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa and independent Sen. Angus King of Maine, appears to require donor-advised fund account holders to complete their donations within 15 years to keep their income tax deductions. Currently, there is no time limit for donor-advised fund account holders to complete their donations.
And some experts, including Chuck Collins, director of the Program on Inequality and the Common Good at the Institute for Policy Studies, say Americans are trading away their right to privacy on their donations if they claim tax deductions for them. (“If that money isn’t going into the tax system, we need to know something about where it’s going,” he said.)
The Associated Press recently spoke with Herrera about her promotion from the Roundtable, where she has worked since 2019, overseeing the philanthropic programs, policy and government affairs, marketing and communications teams. She previously worked with elected officials in several states to create legislation for nonprofits.
The interview has been edited for clarity and length.
——-
A: Yes, absolutely. Freedom is important, no matter what you believe. And we always enjoy finding allies across the aisle and forming those strange coalitions because that’s the only way we’re going to get policy done, especially with a gridlocked Washington and so many purple states.
A: It’s one thing and that is protecting philanthropic freedom. That’s what generosity makes possible: donors can donate wherever and whenever they want. The really interesting thing about this is that we see threats coming from the left and the right, which puts the Roundtable in a unique position to stand up for philanthropic freedom, for conservative foundations and progressive foundations, because we believe in the right to give, regardless of your ideology.
A: Absolutely. Donor privacy is the biggest problem in philanthropy. I think it’s time for philanthropy to step up and start talking about these donor privacy issues. We saw the Supreme Court rule on this in their last term, and this freedom to give to the causes you care about without intimidation or intimidation is important on both the right and the left.
A: I think it’s a lot of things. The decline in the number of people who identify as religious is likely part of that, as religious donations are a large part of philanthropy. But this policy does not help. The King-Grassley legislation introduced in the last Congress, restrictions on family foundations, private foundations giving to (donor-advised funds), the regulations that are about to come out through the IRS and the Treasury Department. Naming and shaming donors will ultimately hurt. It will hurt donors and the charities they care about.
_______
Associated Press coverage of philanthropy and nonprofits is supported by the AP’s partnership with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content. For all of AP’s philanthropy coverage, visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
