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Nonprofit Panel to Hold Field Hearings Regarding Its Reports to the Senate Finance Committee

(March 28, 2005) As reported previously, Paulette Maehara, CFRE, CAE, president and CEO of the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), has been participating in the deliberations of the Oversight and Self-Regulation Work Group of an ad hoc Panel on the Nonprofit Sector. That Panel submitted its interim recommendations to the Senate Finance Committee on March 1, 2005, during a press conference held with Senator Grassley.

In the interim report, the Nonprofit Panel called upon the nation's 1.3 million charities and foundations to implement a series of measures to improve their governance and increase financial disclosure. It also suggested enhancing government oversight of charitable organizations through actions by Congress and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

To achieve these goals, the panel focused on four main areas in the report:

• Actions the sector can take on a voluntary basis to improve governance and ethical conduct
• Ways to increase transparency of charitable sector operations
• Additional legislation to ensure that tax exempt dollars are used exclusively for charitable purposes
• Stronger enforcement of existing law by federal and state oversight officials

To view the report in its entirety: http://www.nonprofitpanel.org/interim/PanelReport.pdf

Currently, the panel is requesting members of the charitable sector to sign on to the interim report. AFP has chosen not to sign on at this time because of concerns about the report.

Field Hearings Locations and Dates

The Nonprofit Panel is holding twelve field hearings across the country as it prepares to submit its final report later this year. AFP urges our members to attend the hearings in their area if possible. We will be circulating talking points to AFP chapter leaders to educate them about AFP's viewpoint very shortly.

The dates and locations are as follows:

March 24 - Denver, Colo.

March 30 - San Francisco, Calif.

April 1 - Duluth, Minn.

April 6 - New York, N.Y.

April 7 - Des Moines, Iowa

April 8 - Minneapolis, Minn.

April 10 - San Diego, Calif.

April 14 - Dallas, Texas

April 18 - Chicago, Ill.

April 19 - Washington, D.C.

April 21--Atlanta, Ga.

April 27 - Detroit, Mich.

For detailed information for times and locations, please go to: http://www.nonprofitpanel.org

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