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SmartGiving News for May 2005 SmartGiving News takes a Summer Vacation While our Founder, Phyllis Freedman, spends the summer visiting nonprofit and NGO projects here and abroad, the SmartGiving Newsletter will be on hiatus. We'll be back in September with our regular monthly issue. A Controversial View While some modifications to and reductions in the estate tax might be acceptable and even desirable, permanent and full repeal of the estate tax is not the right decision for the charitable sector and for our society. On April 13, the U.S. House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to permanently repeal the estate tax. Although permanent repeal is now being considered by the Senate, it is likely that deeper cuts in the estate tax, if not permanent and full repeal, are likely. At the same time, the Brookings Institution and the Urban Institute have estimated that a permanently repealed tax will reduce gifts to charities by $10 billion a year, the equivalent of all the grants made by the country's 82 largest foundations in 2003. On the other hand, it is also estimated that for the foreseeable future, the estate tax will affect fewer than 2% of all estates and that the largest 5% of those estates pay more than half of all estate taxes. And this reduction in funds available for social services will come at a time when the baby boomers begin to retire in large numbers, substantially increasing the costs of programs such as Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. Repealing the estate tax would subsequently reduce the funds available to help meet these costs as well as to meet other priority needs such as improving educational opportunities, expanding health insurance coverage, and reducing child poverty. It's a sad but true fact of our society that in spite of being the most generous people on earth, many individuals are motivated to give to charity not out of an inherent desire to do good but rather to mitigate taxes. Our view is that while some modifications to and reductions in the estate tax might be acceptable, and even desirable, permanent and full repeal of the estate tax is not the right decision for the charitable sector and for our society. Web Resources for Volunteers & Board Members Along with just about everything else, the internet is an excellent resource for individuals wishing to donate their time. So, whether you're interested in finding a Board on which to serve or you're looking for an ongoing volunteer commitment at a more grassroots level, here are some resources: BoardNetUSA It is estimated that more than 1.8 million nonprofit board seats become available in the United States each year. Nonprofits want to be sure that those identified for board participation have the right level of skill (and financial commitment) to do a good job. At the same time, baby boomers reaching retirement increasingly want to use at least some of their new free time to do good and are looking for opportunities to engage in a meaningful way. We believe that the very best way for prospective board members to get to know a nonprofit is by first volunteering and/or donating and, after learning more about the organization, the impact it is having and how it manages itself, moving toward board membership; or by knowing someone who is involved and, in turn, gets you involved. However, for some, especially younger prospective board members, accustomed to conducting much of their daily lives online, there is a new alternative. Here's how BoardNetUSA (www.boardnetusa.org) works. This online service enables prospective board members and prospective volunteers to find each other in an original way. The site is hosted by the Volunteer Consulting Group (VCG), a New York-based nonprofit, and assisted by community partners in six cities with growing interest across the nation, all working toward filling board seats with qualified candidates and "individually developing services tailored to their local market." Registration for nonprofits and for candidates is simple and free. Once entered, nonprofits and individuals can search for matches in interests, skills, and location, among other criteria. Currently, more than 10,000 candidates in 47 states and thousands of nonprofits are registered. Although BoardNetUSA is being used by nonprofits across the size-spectrum, it is most popular with small and medium-sized organizations that lack access to potential candidates and corporate partners. VolunteerMatch VolunteerMatch (www.volunteermatch.org) is an online resource for individuals, nonprofits and corporations interested in volunteering. For companies interested in integrating employee and community involvement initiatives into their business strategy VolunteerMatch offers a turnkey solution with easy-to-use technology and professional support. A variety of tools and services are offered to let companies design a volunteer program that is right for each business. For individual volunteers, the site enables a search within a certain mileage of your work or home and also facilitates searches on general cause categories, the skills you bring to the volunteer experience, whether the volunteer opportunity is with a local or national organization and, importantly, whether the volunteer engagement is suitable for families, seniors, teens or groups. For nonprofits, VolunteerMatch represents an effortless recruiting service. Not only does the site enable recruiting but it also affords nonprofits excellent volunteer management tools. So, whatever kind of volunteer opportunity you might be looking for there are online resources available to assist you. Want to share this issue of the newsletter with friends? Simply refer them to the SmartGiving website where all back issues of the newsletter are posted in the news/press section www.smart-giving.com/news We welcome your feedback! If you have suggestions for newsletter content, questions you would like to see answered in a future issue, or any other feedback for us, please e-mail us at info@smart-giving.com. 
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