New Legislation Aims to Boost Presence of Nonprofit Sector

Legislation, presented by Representative Betty McCollum, that could improve communication and coordination between the nonprofit sector and the federal government, if passed, will establish two new entities and gather data on the nonprofit sector.

The title of the bill as introduced by McCollum is "The Nonprofit Sector and Community Solutions Act." The measures in the act would boost the presence of the nonprofit sector in the federal government in three key ways: annual reports and recommendations will be produced for the nonprofit sector, better coordination within the federal government for the nonprofit sector, and the Department of Commerce will collect the same kind of data as it compiles for the for-profit sector and make it available within the nonprofit sector. If the bill passes, statistics and data produced by the Bureau of Labor Statistics would also include nonprofits as their own unique category of employer.

McCollum explains the value of the bill, "Even though the nonprofit sector plays a critical role in the success of federal, state and local programs, the federal government currently has a minimal relationship with it. The bill aims to not only build a strong relationship between the government and the nonprofit sector but also give the nonprofit sector a voice to raise concerns and propose solutions to our nation's challenges." The nonprofit sector already has strong bonds with the federal government, in some cases the government provides close to a third of the nonprofit sector's budget while the nonprofit sector is an entity that holds the government accountable or in partnership.

McCollum's bill will establish a 16- member, bipartisan Council on Nonprofit Organizations and Community Solutions as well as the Interagency Working Group on Nonprofit Organizations and the Federal Government. Each entity will have members that are voted in either by the senate or by the president. The presence of these entities will, as agreed upon by experts in the nonprofit sector, put the sector in a bigger playing field similar to that of the for-profit sector and elevate the voice of the nonprofit sector.