A bipartisan coalition in Congress stripped a steep tax increase on private philanthropic foundations from President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spending package before the legislation was signed on 4 July. An earlier draft of the measure would have raised the excise tax on investment earnings of foundations with more than $5 billion in assets to as much as 10%, compared with the current 1.39% rate—a six-fold jump. The change was estimated to cost the sector hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Republican Senators Todd Young of Indiana and James Lankford of Oklahoma led negotiations to drop the provision after lobbying by a broad alliance of nonprofit groups and donors. While foundations avoided the increase, the final law retained a higher levy on the largest university endowments. The outcome underscores the influence of philanthropic organizations—particularly conservative funders—in shaping federal tax policy, even as other parts of the same law curb deductions for wealthy taxpayers and impose new giving requirements on corporations.