Buffalo, NY (WBEN) Giving Tuesday has arrived, but for local charities, several organizations are challenged by a number of factors, including inflation.
"The last few years have been difficult ones for our in our community," says Michael Weiner of the United Way, citing the economic impact from COVID, the mass shooting at Tops in May. That combines for an unprecedented experience. "Is inflation going to have a negative impact on Giving Tuesday? Our hope is it won't. But it's hard to tell," says Weiner.
Weiner notes Giving Tuesday has a history of matching gift initiatives locally and nationally. That's a great incentive to giving. But I think it's all about storytelling and talking about your value as an organization that really resonates the most amongst donors," adds Weiner.
Claire Moran of Catholic Charities agrees. "People's hard earned money needs to be put to good use, I think it's really important to to stress what your cause is, and the importance of it, and give people confidence in giving to the organization," says Moran. She says people really love to support other people. "I'm fortunate enough to be working here where every day I get to hear some collaboration or some really extraordinary thing that might have happened to somebody and how we were able to, really help and so I think, for any organization that's looking to raise money and bringing it back to the person is the most important thing," she adds.
Moran says in today's economic environment, donors can easily become clients. That's why she's highlighted the emergency financial assistance program. "What that means is that it allows us to care for people with basic needs, cleaning supplies, hygiene products, and emergency financial assistance stuff," explains Moran.
Weiner notes some donors wonder what charitable tax benefits does a consumer get, for the purposes of making a charitable gift. He says they're not as rich as and rewarding to the donor as they once were. Esther Gulyas of EG Tax says it's more about giving for the sake of giving, but if you're looking for tax benefits, it depends on whether you itemize. "If you're an itemizer, and you're able to itemize and you're your contributions, up to 50% of your income is deductible, and the rest is carried forward," says Gulyas. If not, she says there is a page one write off of $300 if you're filing as a single, $600 if you're filing jointly.
She notes itemizing may not be done federally, but it is getting bigger on the state side. "You may be able to itemize, but everything is multiplied by your tax bracket," explains Gulyas. She says if you're in the 7% bracket in New York State, and you gave $1,000, you're only going to save $70. "So it isn't as good as it used to be. But by the same token, the write offs that they're giving you are much larger than before. So when you weigh it all out, it works," she notes. Gulyas says if you put that into true dollars and cents, if you're in the 30% bracket, and you got a $600 write off, in essence, they're going to give you back 180 of that $600 you gave.
