Currently a donation made to a university can be used for improvements to dormitories, classrooms, dining facilities, meeting areas and laboratories on campus, and the donor will receive a tax deduction. However, contributions made for similar improvements to a Tri Delta housing project are not tax deductible.
Fraternities and sororities are the nation’s largest not-for-profit student landlords, operating several billion dollars in housing for more than 250,000 students each year. However, our aging properties have a variety of problems including wiring, plumbing and a lack of fire sprinklers. The cost of installing life safety upgrades is high. A Tri Delta chapter recently received an estimate of over $100,000 for the installation of a fire sprinkler system.
Passage of the Collegiate Housing and Infrastructure Act of 2005 (H.R. 1548, S. 713). will make it possible for contributions for critical infrastructure and life safety improvements to housing to be tax-deductible.
Send a fax to your elected representatives today to urge the passage of this important legislation.
Please follow these instructions carefully:
If your Representative and/or Senators are not listed, that means he/she are already a cosponsors of the bill. You do not need to send a letter. If your Representative or Senator is listed, please complete the following steps.
IMPORTANT: Collegians may send letters to the Representative and Senators in the district and state where their university is located and in the district where they live/vote. For example, if you are a student at Purdue who lives/votes in Colorado, you may send your letters to both Indiana and Colorado legislators. If you are an alumna member who graduated from Southern California but you now live in Chicago, Illinois, you may send your letters to both California and Illinois legislators.
2. If you are a collegiate member, send the
Collegiate House letter to your House member and the
Collegiate Senate letter to your Senators. Type in the blanks with the date, your Representative's and Senators' names, your college or university and Delta Delta Delta.
If you are an alumna member, send the
Alumna Senate letter to your Senators and the
Alumna House letter to your House member. Type in the blanks with the date, your Representative's and Senators' names, the word alumna, your college or university, and Delta Delta Delta.
If you are a parent, send the Parent Senate letter to your Senators and the Parent House letter to your House member. Type in the blanks with the date, your Representative’s and Senators’ names, the word parent, your child’s college or university, and Delta Delta Delta.
IMPORTANT: You must send different letters to the House and Senate.
3. Please fax your letter to the contact information listed for your Representative and Senators.
IMPORTANT: Congress continues to have slow mail delivery due to security precautions, so faxing is the most effective way to reach an office with written communication of this type. We are asking that you fax your letter by September 15, 2005. Update: Lobbying deadline has been extended. Please continue to fax your letters.
4. This is the final step. Please send a copy (via fax or via e-mail) of your letter to
Graham Stiles, chief Operating Officer of Delta Delta Delta National House Corporation so that we know you have participated in this effort. He will also be forwarding these to our lobbyist in
Washington D.C.. A group of Greek leaders will be lobbying on Capitol Hill soon, and your letters will be used in meetings that day.
If you have any questions, please contact
Sarah Lindsay, Past President of Delta Delta Delta.
Thank you so much for supporting the effort to make not-for-profit student housing safer and better.
