The Penn Interfraternity Council is urging the Greek community to write letters telling their congressmen to support the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act, a bill which permits tax-deductible donations to Greek chapter housing corporations.
The proposal will make it easier for many chapters to increase alumni donations for these important upgrades. Although the IFC is not formally advocating for this bill, they fully support it.
Under the current tax code, colleges and universities may use tax-deductible contributions for the enhancement of student facilities like dormitories and dining halls. However, fraternity and sorority educational foundations are allowed to use these dollars only if the grant is for a purely educational purpose.
At universities like Penn in which the institution owns some - though not all -- Greek housing, those houses owned by the school enjoy the benefits of fundraising tax-deductible funds for improvements. Greek chapters that are not owned by the University do not benefit from the current tax code.
According to College and Wharton junior and IFC president David Ashkenazi, any donations made to a university-owned chapter at Penn goes to a specific fund that the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Affairs manages for each fraternity. These funds are already tax-deductible.
Ashkenazi said that in promoting the bill, "we're hoping that we will greatly increase the pool of potential donors and hopefully give the fraternity houses here at Penn a much-needed face lift both internally and externally."
