Thank you for your interest and support. The Indiana Association of United Ways usually provides its Policy Update on "odd Fridays" (1st, 3rd and 5th Fridays). Contact us if you have any questions or comments about content (past, present or desired for the future).
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2-min Update: Bicentennial projects and policy news
Watch our 2-minute highlights from our Policy Update.
Heather Davis joins us to discuss some exciting Bicentennial projects that IaUW is coordinating through a partnership with the Indiana Bicentennial Commission.
Members, partners and sponsors may contact Heather for more information about the bison public art project.
Heather Davis, IaUW's Bicentennial projects coordinator and Maggie Snyder of our IaUW Policy-Advocacy Team provided this update. And, yes, that is a bison wearing a Santa hat.
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 Congress is getting busy--please weigh in! 
We realize your email box is probably full with asks, as the clock is ticking. Congress is working in a bi-partisan manner to complete important bills before leaving for the holidays (by Dec. 18). Please contact your members of Congress about the issue important to you and your organization. Consider these important issues:
- EDUCATION - The reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), aka No Child Left Behind, has evolved into the Every Student Succeeds Act is its compromise form. Many provisions aim to reduce federal control. Learn more and weigh in.
- TAX PACKAGE - A compromise tax extender package could include making permanent EITC and CTC provisions, as well as including certain charitable giving incentives.
- If you care about IRA Charitable Rollover, then use this action alert and share a story about the value of this charitable giving provision.
- See article below about EITC and CTC.
- IRS RULES FOR CONTRIBUTIONS - The Internal Revenue Service has proposed rules ("Substantiation Requirement for Certain Contributions") that would ask nonprofits to record and report donor Social Security numbers and addresses. Please see article below.
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Help preserve #working family tax credits
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| | A special message for EITC Advocates from UWW. |
We believe that any legislative agreement that makes any business tax extenders permanent should also make permanent the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and Child Tax Credit (CTC) provisions. The time to make the EITC and CTC improvements permanent is now, rather than waiting until 2017 when they expire.
If Congress does not act, 256,000 Hoosiers will lose all or part of the EITC or CTC. Married couples would face higher marriage penalties and cuts. Families with more than two children would face an EITC cut. Indiana would lose $264 million, directly impacting the pockets of workers and businesses. Childless workers in entry level or low-wage industries should have access to EITC. See our Indiana Fact Sheet.
TODAY - Friday, Dec. 4, 11-12ET/10-11CT - Join a Twitter storm. See sample tweets.
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IRS proposes new reporting for charitable giving 
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has proposed a new form that nonprofits may use to record and report donations over $250. To use the proposed form, nonprofits would collect and report the Social Security numbers and addresses of donors, file the form by February 28 each year and send a copy to each donor listed. This is meant to address the problem of donors who are audited, but unable to substantiate their gift with the "contemporaneous written acknowledgement" originally provided by the charity.
Concerns about the proposed rule:
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While the proposed rule is voluntary, it creates the ground work for a mandatory rule, which would be devastating to charitable giving.
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The proposed rule dramatically increases the risk of identity theft for millions of individual donors. Consumer advocates and the IRS advise against disclosing SSNs.
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The proposed rule would have a chilling effect on charitable giving as it would significantly complicate giving for individuals, forcing individuals to consider disclosing personal information as part of their decision about whether and how much to give.
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Most employers operating workplace charitable giving campaigns - including the government offices - would not disclose employee social security numbers to charities.
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The proposed rule creates and undue burden on charities, which operate on tight margins and have limited capacity to manage, protect, and report data about individual donors.
Submit comments to the IRS regarding the proposed rule by December 16.
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Legislators and property tax issues for nonprofits 
The Indiana Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (IACIR) reviewed the nonprofit property tax exemption and proposed the legislature recommend a study committee. See our last issue for summary or the prior IACIR presentations or a table of tax exempt property by county.
The "charitable exemption" includes expectations that the property is "owned, occupied, and used by a person for educational, literary, scientific, religious or charitable purposes" (IC 6-1.1-10-16). However, there are many other types of exemptions for specific nonprofits (universities, hospitals, nursing homes, YMCAs, fraternities, etc.) Proposed solutions include PILOTs (Payments in Lieu of Taxes), SILOTs (Services in Lieu of Taxes), minimum payments, service fees and more.
IaUW provided testimony at the Dec. 1 IACIR meeting, highlighting the need to clarify and simplify the law and to ensure fair, impartial and consistent application of the law across counties. If you have a nonprofit property tax issue to share, please contact us.
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Indiana General Assembly and the 2016 session
The Indiana General Assembly will convene for session on January 5. Legislators have been assigned to committees and bills may be filed before December 10. Below are some resources to help you prepare for the start of session.
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- 12/11 - Hamilton County
- 12/11 - Muncie/Delaware County
- 1/8 - Bloomington/Monroe County
- 1/15 - Southwest Indiana
- 1/16 - Greater Lafayette/Tippecanoe County
- Key dates for session
- Org Day - 11/17
- Bill request deadline -12/11
- First Day of session - 1/5
- Bill filing deadline; State of the State - 1/12
- State of the Judiciary - 1/13
- Committee report deadline - 1/28
- 2nd reading deadline - 2/2
- 3rd reading deadline - 2/3
- Committee report deadline - 2/29
- 2nd reading deadline - 3/2
- 3rd reading deadline - 3/3
- Conference Committee begin - 3/7
- Sine die - 3/14
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  K-Camps across Indiana and the Need for Quality Early Education Twenty-four IaUW members held 78 Kindergarten Camps in 27 counties in the summer of 2015. K-Camps helped over 1,400 incoming kindergarteners who were identified as at risk of falling behind their peers. Children gained academic, social and behavioral skills in the short intensive summer sessions. Campers averaged a 21% increase in pre-literacy skills from the first week to the last week of camp. Review results and learn more in our 2015 K-Camp Report. We are looking for sponsors! Contact us.
K-camps are in many communities with big gaps for quality early care and education experiences. Over 12,000 children are on the wait list for CCDF (see CCDF Report). Only a fraction of students access the State's new pre-K and EEMG-funded programs. See ELAC report for statistics about quality and need by county.
United Ways advocate expansion of high quality early care and education. See examples of recent media about On My Way Pre-K in Indianapolis and Ft. Wayne.
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 IaUW Bicentennial Projects
Indiana Association of United Ways will celebrate the State's 200th birthday year with three special projects: a Bison-tennial Public Art Project, a "Serving Indiana" social media project to promote volunteerism and Born Learning Trails to encourage early learning and parent-child active engagement.
Look for more information in the coming weeks and months about the IaUW Bison-tennial Public Art Project. Visit www.indianabisonart.org to learn how to sponsor a bison in your community. Artist solicitations are coming soon.
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 IaUW Public PolicyIaUW is a nonpartisan organization that works to advance policy principles and compromise solutions for the common good. We focus on policies that are aligned with the impact work in local communities conducted by our 61 United Ways and United Funds.
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Education, so that children are prepared for and succeed in school;
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Income/Financial Stability, so that individuals and families may achieve and sustain financial stability;
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Health, so that individuals may access quality healthcare; and
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Strong Communities, where a statewide 2-1-1 network and a strong charitable sector help communities thrive.
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Frequently Requested Links / Documents
iauw.org - Learn about the Indiana Association of United Ways, current trainings and conferences and the ways we support local United Ways/Funds, partners and communities.
IaUW Policy / Advocacy info - Review and download IaUW Policy Priorities, Third House calendar, bill lists, fact sheets, talking points and testimony.
Advocacy Action Center - Contact your member of Congress or State Legislator, provided through our partnership with United Way Worldwide.
IaUW Policy Update Archive - Read prior issues, special articles and key documents produced by IaUW related to public policy and advocacy.
Community Report Card - Check out key indicators in Education, Income and Health for your neighborhood, county or region.
IN211.org - S earch for human service information available through the referral database or by calling 2-1-1. Download reports about resources, needs, gaps and trends from Indiana 211 Partnership.
NRN Calendar - Register for high-quality and affordable training for nonprofit staff and volunteers by the Indiana Nonprofit Resource Network.
Indiana General Assembly
- Check the hearing or floor schedule, watch a live or recorded hearing or floor session and look up your legislators.
Library of Congress
- Look up bills introduced in Congress. Note that the THOMAS site will be maintained through 2014 and fully replaced by Congress.gov.
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Copyright © 2015. All Rights Reserved.
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Help us tell Congress that the time to act is now for 
