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Creating a Solid Nest Egg

Group Help Poor With Taxes and More

April 7, 2008
By Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz

 
 

Charitable foundations invest and build on their assets. Asset building is how foundations continually sustain their funds for philanthropic work in our communities.

Taking a cue from their own practices, Baltimore-area foundations are helping low-income families make the same asset-building commitment for themselves. Funders are helping families to achieve financial stability and to hold onto it. The CASH Campaign is a shining example of Baltimore funders at work to create sustained financial stability for Baltimore’s most vulnerable.

Teaching families how to maintain financial stability and to develop and build on their assets is important philanthropic work. The CASH Campaign — Creating Assets, Savings and Hope — was created in 2001 by a group of funders and local nonprofits. The campaign focuses on helping working families maximize their financial opportunities and resources. It also seeks to promote the Earned Income Tax Credit, or EITC, and to provide high-quality tax help to families at no cost.

The EITC program, the largest anti-poverty plan operating today, can provide eligible families up to $5,500 a year. In Baltimore, however, more than 25 percent of eligible filers have not been claiming that credit. Local funders joined forces to get the word out. The Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Abell Foundation, the Aaron Straus and Lillie Straus Foundation, the Harry and Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the Alvin and Fanny Blaustein Thalheimer Foundation, the Zanvyl and Isabelle Krieger Fund, the Empower Baltimore Management Corporation, the Clayton Baker Trust, the Baltimore Community Foundation and the Fund for Change have committed to participate in the CASH Campaign.

Since 2001, local low-income residents have claimed more than $7 million in EITC payments with the foundations’ help. Women leading households are urged to seek advice. “In Baltimore, many more woman-headed families are able to claim the EITC and increase their family’s income,” says Joanna Ramani, executive director of the Baltimore CASH Campaign. “These women are the primary earners in their household and are responsible for the financial stability of their family. This influx of income and the ability to stretch it, save it or multiply it is so important for their family’s financial security.”

This tax season, low-income Baltimore residents can have their taxes prepared for free at one of more than 15 CASH Campaign locations in the city, including six Community Action Centers. Last year the campaign prepared more than 7,200 tax returns and saved families more than $1 million in tax preparation costs.

The campaign isn’t just about tax dollars. Individual counseling and classes are offered to help families develop their assets and stay on the track of financial stability. Each year, coalition partners, local credit unions and banks come together to fund an economic empowerment event, Money Power Day. Volunteer partners work together to help families learn how to save for college, reduce debt, fix poor credit and start businesses.

Companies are also taking part. Among the area businesses supporting Baltimore’s asset-building development are MECU, SECU, CitiFinancial, M&T Bank and SecurityPlus Credit Union.

For more information on the Baltimore CASH Campaign, visit www.baltimorecashcampaign.org and www.moneypowerday.org.

Buffy Beaudoin-Schwartz is the communications director at the Association of Baltimore Area Grantmakers, the region’s premier resource on philanthropy, dedicated to informing grantmakers and improving our community. She can be reached at bbsc...@abagmd.org and at www.abagmd.org.

 
 
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