Publications
The Panel On The Nonprofit Sector Reacts To U.S. Senate Committee Proposals
In the previous issue of The Nonprofit Advantage, I wrote about proposals being floated by the U.S. Senate Finance Committee that will have profound effects on nonprofits if enacted into law. The proposals are sweeping, including new rules for nonprofit governance, donor-advised funds, deductibility of appreciated property, supporting organizations (such as “friends of” groups) periodic substantiation of eligibility for tax-exemption and so on. It is fair to say that these proposals and the vigor with which they are being pressed by the Finance Committee and others have put nonprofits under a spotlight not experienced since the Congressional hearings preceding enactment of the 1969 Tax Reform Act that completely rewrote the rules under which private foundations operate. Only this time, it is public charities – that is, charities that derive their support from public contributions, government funding and program service revenue – that are under scrutiny or, as some have put it, “assault.”