As the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area nonprofit community braces for today’s unveiling of the details on the agreement reached for sweeping changes to our country’s tax code, United Way of the National Capital Area(United Way NCA) warns that any changes to the charitable deductions could have a dramatic impact on the area’s nonprofit community.

According to today’s Washington Post, “The Independent Sector, a consortium of nonprofits groups, now says: ‘Adoption of the House bill will result in only 9 percent of taxpayers choosing to itemize and able to claim the charitable deduction. This shift will result in a $12–$20 billion decline in charitable giving each year.’”

“A rewrite of the tax code that moves our country away from incentivizing charitable giving would have a dramatic impact on our local nonprofit community,” said Rosie Allen-Herring, President and CEO, United Way of the National Capital Area. “Many nonprofit budgets are already severely stressed with demand at an all-time high, a reduction in charitable giving would be catastrophic for the most vulnerable in our community. We are also seeing a significant downturn in revenue for the Combined Federal Campaign that our nonprofit community depends on.”

According to the Urban Institute’s Washington, D.C. Research Initiative and United Way NCA research, here are a few statistics underscoring the challenges in our community this holiday season:

• The Washington, DC, region is one of the most expensive places in the country to own and rent property. More than 33 percent of households in the DC region pay more than 30 percent of their income on housing;
• Currently, 18.2 percent of DC residents live in poverty and 13.4 percent of households in DC report low or very low food security.And 30% of our region’s residents classify as “liquid asset poor”;
• More than 12,000 area residents experience or are at-risk of homelessness.

About United Way of the National Capital Area

United Way of the National Capital Area fights for the health, education and financial stability of every person in the National Capital community.. United Way NCA has been improving lives by creating measurable impact in the District of Columbia, Northern Virginia, and Montgomery and Prince George’s Counties for more than 40 years. For more information about United Way of the National Capital Area, visit UnitedWayNCA.org.