Panel Offers Ways to Strengthen Nonprofit Accountability

The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, composed of leaders from charitable organizations, has offered additional recommendations to Congress and the nonprofit sector as part of its continuing effort to strengthen the accountability of the nation's 1.3 million charitable organizations.

The supplemental report is a companion to the report the panel delivered to Congress last June, which offered more than 120 recommendations to strengthen the transparency, governance and accountability of the charitable sector.

The supplemental report makes specific actionable recommendations to Congress and the Internal Revenue Service, as well as charitable organizations, in nine areas, including international grant making, charitable solicitation, compensation of trustees of charitable trusts, taxation on sales of donated property, and consumer credit counseling organizations.

Independent Sector, a coalition of nonprofit groups, convened the panel in October 2004 at the encouragement of the Senate Finance Committee. Many of the panel's original recommendations were included in tax legislation that was introduced in late November 2005.

The panel has decided to extend its work in two areas -- self-regulation of the charitable sector and improvement of financial reports issued by public charities and private foundations.

Both the supplement and the original report, "Strengthening the Transparency, Governance and Accountability of Charitable Organizations: A Final Report to Congress and the Nonprofit Sector," are available at www.NonprofitPanel.org.

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