URGENT POLICY UPDATE: Federal Budget Advocacy Becomes Critical

The Trump Administration apparently envisions a budget proposal that would cut federal domestic spending by up to $8.5 TRILLION DOLLARS over the next ten years – a more devastating vision than last year’s House proposal, that was thought to represent disaster by cutting only $6 trillion in that period. Few, if any, of the programs important to the people and communities served by

nonprofits

would be spared with cuts now being considered by the Administration.

This presentation by the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy documents the critical role of government funding in nonprofit service delivery, the scale of the possible impacts of tax revisions, and some of the specific program areas at risk.

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities web page contains more information on both last year’s House plan and the proposals of the Heritage Foundation and the Republican Study Committee, that seem to be influencing the Administration.

Many of you are connected to national networks or associations that track federal budget developments – please share that information with us, as well as advocacy efforts being made to protect Marylanders from these threats.

The Bolder Advocacy project of the Alliance for Justice has posted a quick guide to the lobbying and other advocacy that 501C3 organizations can undertake. Now more than ever, we encourage charitable organizations to ensure that they have elected to come under the “expenditure test” in Section 501(H) of the IRC, to maximize the amount of lobbying they can do safely.

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