The New Definition of Charitable Giving

The Walnut Creek Library Foundation, the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation, the Diablo Regional Arts Association and other similar “friends” groups are all well-intentioned, publicly-minded volunteers banding together to raise money from benevolent donors who support their cause.  Right?   That may not be the whole story.

When three members of the Walnut Creek City Council - Cindy Silva, Loella Haskew, and Bob Simmons - insisted on a public hearing to consider putting a half-cent sales tax increase on the ballot this November, one of the speakers in favor of the proposal was Catherine Leutzinger of the Walnut Creek Non-Profit Coalition. 

The Coalition includes the Diablo Regional Arts Association, the Lindsay Wildlife Museum, the Walnut Creek Historical Society, the Walnut Creek Open Space Foundation, the PEAK Education Foundation, the Walnut Creek Library Foundation, Friends of the Walnut Creek Library, Friends of the Ygnacio Valley Library, Friends of Civic Arts Education and the Walnut Creek Aquatics Fund. 

I had always thought of these organizations as charities - groups that support their particular area of interest through voluntary donations solicited from like-minded community members.  But it seems that voluntary donations may not be enough for these special interest groups.  What they now favor is to increase sales taxes on EVERYBODY - both those who share their interests and those who don’t - so that the City Council will have a bigger pot of money to distribute to the Council’s favored groups and their causes.

The proposed half-cent sales tax increase would MORE than cover the City’s current needs, and these organizations would soon, no doubt, be lining up to solicit “charitable” contributions or new expenditures from the Council.

Is this the new definition of charitable giving?   An increase in the sales tax would impact BOTH the well off AND those who are struggling to buy shoes for their kids.  The net result would effectively be compulsory charitable giving - whether you can afford it or not.

Another Walnut Creek Non-Profit Coalition member is Walnut Creek Downtown (formerly the Walnut Creek Downtown Business Association) - an association of member businesses that acts to promote and enhance downtown business vitality.  Walnut Creek Downtown has big plans for “re-branding” the downtown, but apparently the business owners themselves don’t have enough interest in the effort to pay for it out of their own pockets.  These civic-minded business owners would rather have the City Council pay for the downtown “re-branding” with sales taxes extracted from the business’s customers.

The endorsement lists for at least two of this November’s City Council candidates - Cindy Silva and her good friend Rich Carlston - will be filled with the names of prominent activists from all of these “charitable” organizations.  Keep that in mind the next time you’re at the store buying shoes for your kids.