Snowe, Collins, Pingree & Michaud Need to Hear From You

This week the Maine Association of Nonprofits proudly joined with nearly 4,000 nonprofits from Maine and across America in submitting the Nonprofit Community Letter urging the Supercommittee of Congress to protect and not weaken the charitable giving incentive. You can go to www.GiveVoice.org to see the letters that were delivered to Congress, including the names of all the nonprofits from our state and elsewhere.

Why it matters:

The Supercommittee of Congress is racing to meet its deadline of November 23 to produce a plan that reduces the federal budget deficit by at least $1.2 trillion. Spending cuts, entitlement reforms, and altering the tax code are all on the table, and each decision could directly impact the ability of nonprofit organizations to provide essential programs and services in communities. The charitable giving incentive, which benefits all 501(c)(3) charitable nonprofits, could be cut back, altered, or even eliminated unless Congress hears how vitally important charitable donations are to the work of nonprofits. Although the Supercommittee has an official deadline of November 23, it is making these critical decisions NOW, not later.

It is time to lift your voice. We urge you and all who care about the vital services and programs that nonprofits provide in our local communities – board members, staff members, volunteers, service recipients, donors, friends, and family members – to join us in IMMEDIATELY lifting our individual voices to inform federal policymakers that they cannot continue to cut public programs and expect nonprofits to fill in the gaps and pick up the slack.

Please continue our positive momentum by taking these two simple steps:

1.  Call, email, and/or tweet your Member of Congress (find contact information and key messages here); and

2.  Cut & Paste this blog posting into an e-mail to all you know who care about the vital work that nonprofits do in our communities, urging them to take these two simple steps, too – including forwarding this message to their board members, staff members, volunteers, donors, friends, and family members!