We’re all doing what we can to get through this global pandemic: donating food to the local food bank, supporting a neighbor who has lost their job, and organizing to change the systems that have left communities of color so much more vulnerable. But even as charities and community organizations are becoming exhausted, the Administration and the Senate are stalling on further relief.

Meanwhile, some $1.2 trillion in wealth is warehoused in private foundations and donor-advised funds. An Emergency Charity Stimulus will move $200 billion in charitable dollars to front line nonprofits and community organizations.

Wealthy donors already took substantial tax breaks when they set up these funds – sometimes decades ago – yet the law allows 95% of private foundation assets and 100% of donor advised fund dollars to remain unspent, year after year. Congress can double the mandated foundation payout over the next three years from five percent to 10 percent annually, and mandate a 10 percent payout for donor-advised funds for the same period. That will move $200 billion to front-line charities without spending an extra dollar of taxpayer money.

We’re doing what we can in our communities. It’s time to unleash charitable funds and move them to the front lines.