Exempt Organizations Advisory - Nonprofit Panel Issues Supplement to Final Report

On April 24, the Independent Sector’s Panel on the Nonprofit Sector released a supplement as a companion to the Panel’s report, "Strengthening the Transparency, Governance, and Accountability of Charitable Organizations: A Final Report to Congress and the Nonprofit Sectors," which was issued in June 2005. The supplement can be downloaded here.

The Supplemental Report, which incorporates recommendations from the charitable community, focuses on the following nine areas: international grantmaking; charitable solicitation; compensation of trustees of charitable trusts; the prudent investor standard; nonprofit conversion transactions; taxation on sales of donated property; consumer credit counseling organizations; disclosure of unrelated business activities; and federal court equity powers and standing to sue.

The Panel is hopeful that Congress, which has returned from spring recess, will take action in the coming weeks on the package of charitable tax incentives and reforms that was first passed by the Senate as part of its tax reconciliation package.

The Final Report issued last June can be found here.

For more information on this topic, please contact Catherine W. Wilkinson, Suzanne Ross McDowell, or the Steptoe attorney(s) with whom you usually work.

The Exempt Organization Advisory is a general summary of the law and is not intended as specific legal advice for any organization.

Internal Revenue Service - Circular 230 Disclosure: As provided for in Treasury regulations, advice (if any) relating to federal taxes that is contained in this communication (including attachments) is not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (1) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (2) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any plan or arrangement addressed herein.

Questions and comments about the Exempt Organizations Advisory are always welcome and should be sent to bstone@steptoe.com.