Cande de Leon, Executive Director of the Office of Mission Advancement for the Diocese of Phoenix had many important matters to discuss with Catholic Education Arizona (CEA) President and CEO, Nancy Padberg. The first was to illuminate listeners on the difference between CEA and CDA — acronyms commonly confused for one another. After that had been established, the two touched on the importance of tuition tax credits and how they can benefit both students and businesses.

Businesses Can Effect Positive Change

De Leon points out that while many businesses in the community want to reach out a helping hand, they don’t always know where to begin. ‘By helping the charity in developmental appeal, they’re able to help feed the hungry, they’re able to help women in need, they’re able to help the poor, they’re able to really make a difference through their contributions,’ he says regarding businesses taking charitable steps. He continues, saying ‘They’re able to help… the underserved children, to help change lives, serve society, and transform culture.’

Padberg concurs, elaborating on how these businesses can do what they set out to do in their mission statements by taking simple, but effective, action. She says, ‘When you look at corporations — their own mission statement, you know — it really checks a lot of those boxes for a business person to see the fruits of their charitable gifts and their tax credits.’

Spreading the Word About Tax Credits

According to Dosomething.org, teacher quality is one of the most significant factors in relation to student achievement. The dedicated educators at Arizona Catholic schools have much to offer to the students they teach. More children can access this high-quality Catholic education when individuals and businesses alike take part in tuition tax credits.

Educating the public on these tax credits does a lot to boost enrollment, and everyone has a part to play in this. De Leon states, ‘If you’re a business executive… you’re having lunch or dinner with somebody that’s in business, you should really bring that up.’ He goes on to say, ‘You’d be surprised how many people don’t know about that.’

Nancy Padberg can testify to the hard work that organizations like Catholic Education Arizona put in to get the word out there about what tax credits can do for Catholic charities. She explains, ‘We are doing webinars to share the message. We’re doing our podcast like this today. We have an incredible social media following. We’re doing our newsletter to 19,000 people a month.’

She states that they work hard to share this message because of how often people in her position hear sentiments about how business leaders didn’t know they could give as a company. For more information on what action your company can take to benefit Catholic Education Arizona and other Catholic charities, reach out to us today!