ACR Summit for Leaders
March 18, 2015
8:00 - 10:50 a.m.
Breakfast available at 7:30 a.m.
Washington Court Hotel
525 New Jersey Avenue, NW
Washington DC 20001In 2014, we saw the release of a 1000-page tax reform draft, a new
chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, and an election that shifted the balance of power
in Congress. What can we expect in 2015? With new chairmen for both the House Ways and Means
and Senate Finance Committees– former Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan (R-WI) and
Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) respectively – we expect next year to be another significant year
for tax policy.
With so many tax issues still to be debated, nothing is completely on or off the table. Given the new political landscape, now is not the time for the philanthropic community to stay on the sidelines. We hope you will join us at the 2015 ACR Summit for Leaders to learn about what we can do to protect private giving and educate lawmakers about the critical role of charitable organizations in a free society.
Registration for the ACR Summit is closed. Please check back here for a wrap-up of this year’s ACR Summit as well as information on future ACR events.
Sessions
What’s My Line?
As we anticipate another round of tax reform efforts on the Hill, we’ll have a bit of fun
with messaging around the charitable deduction while still conveying the critical importance
of communicating to Congress that this part of our tax code must be protected. In this
session four speakers will deliver four different messages about the charitable deduction
and audience members will vote for the most persuasive message. The presenters and moderator
are all members of the Charitable Giving Coalition, which has provided a unique and unified
voice on Capitol Hill on issues affecting the charitable deduction since 2009.
- Andy Finch, Director of Policy, Association of Art Museum Directors
- Steven Woolf, Senior Tax Policy Counsel, Jewish Federations of North America
- Sue Santa, Senior Vice President for Public Policy and Legal Affairs, Council on Foundations
- Steve Taylor, Senior Vice President and Counsel for Public Policy, United Way Worldwide
- Tim Delaney, President and CEO, National Council of Nonprofits (moderator)
Jeopardy!
2015 ushered in the first Republican Congressional majority in eight years as well as two
new Chairmen for the tax-writing committees. Both Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin
Hatch (R-UT) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan (R-WI) have expressed
strong interest in undertaking comprehensive tax reform this year, and indeed their
committees have already taken up tax legislation impacting the philanthropic community. We
will hear an “insiders” perspective from Congressional staff on what lies ahead and how our
sector can inform the debate.
- Preston Rutledge, Tax Counsel, Senate Finance Committee - Majority Staff
- Paul Poteet, Senior Tax Policy Advisor, Office of Senator John Thune (R-SD)
- Mark Warren, Tax Counsel, Subcommittee on Select Revenue Measures, House Ways and Means Committee – Majority Staff
- Adam Carasso, Senior Tax and Economic Advisor, Senate Finance Committee - Minority Staff
- Sandra Swirski, Executive Director, Alliance for Charitable Reform (moderator)
The Congressional panel will be off the record.
The Dating Game
Sharing our stories with policymakers often means talking about place-based philanthropy –
that special relationship between grantmakers and communities. Sometimes the focus is on the
place a donor once – or still – calls home. Other times, the special place is a
neighborhood, a town, a state, a region, even a country, where a particular challenge
resonates with one’s philanthropic mission. In this session speakers representing individual
donors, a community foundation, and a private foundation will present their stories of
place-based philanthropy and discuss how those stories can build strong and sustained
relationships with federal, state, and local public officials.
- Barbara Harman, President and Editor, Catalogue for Philanthropy: Greater Washington
- Thomas Riley, Vice President for Strategy, Connelly Foundation
- Jennifer Leonard, President and CEO, Rochester Area Community Foundation
- Joanne Florino, Senior Vice President for Public Policy, The Philanthropy Roundtable (moderator)