The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector, which was formed by Independent Sector with the encouragement of the Senate Finance Committee, has released a list of recommendations regarding actions to strengthen governance, ethical conduct, and accountability within the sector and has issued a request for comments from members of the nonprofit community.

The recommendations from the panel's expert advisory group and five work groups were developed over the past seven weeks through a series of intensive discussions. The recommendations will be reviewed by the panel, which is comprised of twenty-four leaders representing a broad range of America's public charities and private foundations, as it prepares the interim report it will present to the leaders of the Senate Finance Committee in early March.

"Even in the very brief time frame we have been given to develop an initial set of recommendations, the panel felt it was important to invite broader comment as part of the process in this initial phase," said Diana Aviv, executive director of the panel and president and CEO of Independent Sector. "We look forward to hearing from the many voices in the field that have a strong commitment to improving practice in the nonprofit sector."

During the comment period, which ends Friday, February 18, the nonprofit community is invited to review the twenty-one recommendations and submit comments on the panel's Web site at: http://nonprofitpanel.org/workgrouprecs/firstrecs.

The panel also invites participation in a national conference call on Wednesday, January 26, from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., EST. Staff and board members of public charities, corporate philanthropy programs, and private foundations who wish to join the call should sign up through the online form at: http://nonprofitpanel.org/ncc/.