Charities feel drag of fuel crisis

0 Comments | USA TODAY, July, 2008 | by Dennis Cauchon

Record gasoline prices are forcing volunteers to quit delivering meals to seniors, taking patients to the doctor and doing other charity work behind the wheel.

"We're in a bad crisis right now," says Enid Borden, chief executive of the Meals on Wheels Association of America. A survey found that 58% of its local chapters had lost volunteers because of gas prices.

Non-profits are pushing Congress to give a bigger tax deduction to those who drive their own vehicles for charities. Now, volunteers can deduct only 14 cents for every mile, a rate set by Congress.

The rate was last raised from 12 to 14 cents in 1998. Unlike the charitable mileage deduction, the Internal Revenue Service can raise the deduction for business and other travel without...