Nonprofit Leadership Podcast · Dr. Rob Harter

How Can We Best Navigate the New Guidelines for Corporate Giving?

·37 min·2 clips

Matt Nash explains how employee volunteers become donors through the emotional attachment formed by seeing a nonprofit's work on site.

1. The Nonprofit Leadership Podcast episode examines how the 1% income floor on corporate charitable deductions, effective January 1, 2026, affects nonprofit fundraising. 2. Host Dr. Rob Harder interviews Matt Nash, executive director of the Blackbaud Giving Fund, who previously worked at Fidelity Charitable and spent a year and a half on the Generosity Commission. 3. Nash's core thesis is that the change is "more nuanced than you think" because corporations give mainly for brand image and community reputation rather than tax savings. 4. He explains that the previous rule allowed deductions up to 10% of corporate income, while the new 1% hurdle sits close to the roughly 0.9% average, and that companies may "bunch" gifts in bad years when 1% is a smaller dollar figure. 5. Nash says corporate giving carries a five-year carry-forward versus 20 years for operating and investment expenses, and predicts corporations will narrow their focus, putting nonprofits tied to an executive's "pet project" at risk. 6. For approaching companies, he says large corporations often have one or two staff running programs for 100,000 employees in 25 countries, so nonprofits must offer scalable activities, while mid-sized firms care about reputation in a few cities and small businesses respond to personal ties. 7. He tells nonprofits to research prospects with Google and AI searches, avoid "blast emails," and open with questions instead of a pitch, which Harder calls "sales 101." 8. On impact reporting, Nash says funders now weigh storytelling alongside metrics, and that AI tools will scrape a nonprofit's website and social media, so a feeding program should pair "5,000 people" with one family's story. 9. He adds that employees' giving is separate from their employer's, that workplace giving platforms reach 8 million employees, and that volunteers who see the work on site, such as at a food pantry, tend to become donors. 10. Nonprofit development directors, executive directors, and board members will get the most from this episode.

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