Benevolent tax credits spared

Springfield area nonprofits that depend on charitable giving may be breathing easier now that several state tax credit programs have been renewed or extended.

On March 29, Gov. Jay Nixon signed into law Senate bills 20, 15 and 19 in a show of support for benevolent tax credits. The legislation, which extends or renews five programs representing at least $4.35 million in tax credits, included an emergency clause, which allowed expired credits to be retroactive to Jan. 1 this year.

Organizations such as Isabel’s House, Court Appointed Special Advocates of Southwest Missouri and the local chapter of the National MS Society are among the nonprofits that could benefit from the availability of the credits.

The reinstatement of a tax credit program for children in crisis meant a direct donation to help Springfield’s Child Advocacy Center fund the purchase of its West Plains office. CAC Executive Director Barbara Brown-Johnson said an anonymous donor had committed to help pay for a $160,000 acquisition in April of the former Howell County Health Department building.

“He was waiting to see if we got the (credits) back,” Brown-Johnson said, noting the building would soon be decked out in child-friendly murals, similar to the ones on the walls inside the center’s home on East Walnut Street.

The legislation reinstated the credit program under the new name Champion for Children tax credit in honor of former Sen. Norma Champion.

In 2012, Brown-Johnson said the local CAC worked with roughly 1,200 children in 18 southwest Missouri counties in response to reports of child abuse. Of the 15 Child Advocacy Centers in the state, she said Springfield’s office serves the most children annually.

State Sen. Bob Dixon, R-Springfield, sponsored the three Senate bills that covered the five programs, including tax credits for surviving spouses of public safety officers, residential dwelling accessibility, pregnancy resource centers and food pantries. Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Springfield, handled the bills in the House of Representatives.

“We were working with rocket fuel this year. It was very close – within 30 minutes – of becoming the first bill to go to the governor’s desk,” Dixon said, crediting groups such as the Missouri Food Bank Association for mobilizing support after a push to extend credits failed last year in Jefferson City. “I know from seeing how the benevolent tax credits work, they really tap the strong, charitable spirit of folks not only in our area, but also across the state.”

Ozarks Food Harvest President and CEO Bart Brown is serving in his second year as president of the Missouri Food Bank Association, which comprises six Feeding America food banks statewide. He said the group is celebrating the Food Pantry Tax Credit’s reinstatement through Dec. 31, 2019, even though the annual cap was reduced to $1.25 million from $2 million.

“We all were calling for the reinstatement of this tax credit,” Brown said, referring to the food pantry credit that expired in August 2011. “Between all of us, we serve about 2,000 charities across the state, many of which are food pantries that will benefit from the reinstatement of this.”

Cuts to the federal Temporary Emergency Food Assisting Program, which subsidizes food producers who funnel food through organizations such as Ozarks Food Harvest, have hit home as part of mandated cuts in spending under the sequester. The cuts amount to roughly 4 million tons of food annually, Brown said.

“In prior years, that federal commodity program accounted for about 30 percent of all of the food we got in on an annual basis,” he said. “Now, all of a sudden, we have quite a lot of private food donations to make that up.”

The organization made up some ground last month when the Missouri Health Foundation issued a $1 million grant to the food pantry for infrastructure and equipment across its network. It also received additional tax-credit support this month when the Missouri Department of Economic Development awarded Ozarks Food Harvest $250,000 in Neighborhood Assistance Program tax credits.

At CAC, Brown-Johnson said the Champion for Children program is the only tax credit available to its donors.

Just before the tax credits expired in August, she said CAC reached out to supporters for private donations and netted about $240,000, or a fourth of its total 2012 contributions. In all, she said more than 60 percent of last year’s $1.05 million budget came from private donors.

She said the Champion for Children tax credits, which reimburses up to 50 percent of donations until the credits are exhausted, would help CAC raise money for operations.

“Most people donate in the $100-, $250- or $500 range. There are far more of those folks who can benefit from the credits now,” Brown-Johnson said, noting she has testified before House and Senate committees at least five times in the last year. “When we lost the credit, it was a huge blow because it was the only credit we had to offer. We are tickled pink that it is back.”