Mission:
To prepare recommendations for Congress on how to improve oversight and governance of charitable organizations.

Background:
In November 2004, Independent Sector created the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector at the request of Senate Finance Committee chair Charles Grassley (R-IA) and ranking minority member Max Baucus (D-MT) to recommend how Congress might improve oversight and governance of nonprofits. In addition to the panel with its twenty-four members from public charities and private foundations, IS named an eight-member advisory group to inform the panel's work and review recommendations from its five work groups, consisting of more than one hundred members. On January 24, the work groups released their recommendations for public comment. The panel will consider them — and public feedback on them — as it prepares its interim report to the Senate Finance Committee due in early March.

Outstanding Features:
Members of the nonprofit community may read the twenty-one recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee and comment on them online. The deadline for comments is February 18, 2005.