MARQUETTE -- Money's tight.  Zoom into your wallet, and you may find yourself with a tough choice.  Do I put gas in my car, or do I put food on my table? 

If that sounds like your situation, contributing to a charity is hardly a top priority.  But there is an incentive to do so.  Since December of 1988, Michigan has offered a Community Foundation Tax Credit. 

For example:  you contribute $100 to your local Community Foundation, the state gives you $50 back.  But Governor Snyder's proposed budget does away with that.  If it passes, you donate a hundred bucks, all you get in return is the personal satisfaction of contributing.

The Marquette County Community Foundation grants hundreds of thousands of dollars to organizations like the YMCA, the Peter White Public Library, and the new Regional History Center every year.  These grants are all possible because of your charitable donations. 

"A lot of donors are passionate about their cause," says Carole Touchinski, who's the Foundation's Executive Director.  "They want to support the community whether there's a tax incentive or not associated with that."

And believe it or not, a lot of people feel that way.  Philanthropy still does exist. 

"If I'm giving $400, I get a $200 tax credit.  If I'm giving $100,000, I get a $200 tax credit.  Am I going to not give $100,000 if I lose the $200 tax credit?  No, I'm still going to give $100,000," says Bob Cowell, a long-time philanthropist and President of the Marquette County Community Foundation.

The big question mark is with new contributors.  Will the Community Foundation be able to attract them without the tax incentive?

"I'm sold," Cowell says.  "I'm going to contribute to Northern, I'm going to contribute to the Community Foundation, I'm going to contribute to the library regardless if there's these tax credits.  But I think it's good for new contributors to have some reason to get involved in that organization."

But the Marquette County Community Foundation isn't worried.  This year, they'll grant out about $500,000 to area organizations.

"Tax incentives or not, we just need to learn to work differently," Touchinski says.

So the granting will continue, and the organization will survive.  The uncertainty is whether or not we'll contribute when the tax incentive is gone.

An interesting note about Community Foundations across the state of Michigan:  prior to the tax credit, which began in December, 1988, Community Foundations had assets of about $300 million.  As of 2008, that number has grown to $2.5 billion.