Even the famous miser Ebenezer Scrooge came to know the goodness of generosity. As Charles Dickens wrote, “Scrooge was better than his word.. He became as good a friend, as good a man as the good old City knew, or any other good old city, town, or borough in the good old world.” Before the President and Congress send nonprofits a lump of coal, they would do well to remember the lesson of Scrooge and preserve the charitable tax deduction.