Recently, TASC President Cliff Mason and I had the pleasure of hosting U.S. Representative Mark Pocan at TASC’s headquarters. While we touched on any number of topics during our conversation, we kept coming back to one central theme: philanthropy.
During the first part of the meeting we brought Representative Pocan up to speed about our Combined Federal Campaign (CFC), our ongoing development and upgrade of the workplace giving program. To date, more than 13,000 charities are enrolled and ready to go on the new system. In addition, we are just about ready to start rolling this out to 6+ million federal employees and retirees.
We then discussed how working with the country’s largest employer (the Federal Government) has ramped-up TASC’s need for additional employees and office space in the International Lane area. Rep. Pocan pledged his support in any way he could, stating “We need to keep TASC and its jobs here in Madison.”
The conversation then moved to a new initiative of which I am very proud. Something that I think will make the world a better place: The Greater Give. This innovation will truly maximize employer and employee philanthropy, because it will open the door to charitable giving that’s tax exempt to the giver.
The benefits of workplace giving are already making a difference for individuals and the community. And The Greater Give will multiply those benefits even further. Here’s how it would work. By changing one sentence in the Internal Revenue Code, workplace giving would be treated much like the transportation benefit. In other words, with this change employees could set aside pretax funds to donate to the charities of their choice.
Personal, tax-exempt charity savings accounts will encourage regular, predictable giving. With each paycheck, employees will have a unique opportunity to save—for the purpose of supporting their community. Automating savings into a separate account gives visibility and options. And it simplifies charitable giving.
People feel good giving. Giving in the workplace attracts and retains talent and strengthens teams by promoting inclusivity. This innovation will boost corporate citizenship, individual wellness, and recognition. It will boost community charities’ bottom lines and enable employers and charities to leverage projected gifts to maximum effect.
For his part, Rep. Pocan was interested in TASC’s initiative, but was realistic about getting it done. “I am not seeing a lot getting done right now, but there is some room for tax reforms,” he stated. “We can’t do the big things, so we may opt for doing some smaller things.”
The Greater Give is one small thing that could have a huge impact.
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