How Will Small Charities Learn About New Federal Rules?

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

To the Editor:

Now that Congress has finally acted on legislation to regulate charities (“A New Effort to Spur Giving,” August 17), do nonprofit groups really know what happened?

While all the “major players” have suggested what and how changes should be made, the little nonprofit in the trenches is mostly unaware that new regulations are in place.

My sense is that most nonprofit organizations have paid no attention to this debate. They are concerned with delivering services and helping people, not with the activities of regulators far removed from their work.

In all the discussion, planning, and posturing regarding what is best for the nonprofit community, I have seen nothing that addresses how the message will be delivered to the vast majority of nonprofit organizations that are not members of Independent Sector, subscribers to trade publications, or members of a state association.

Does Congress assume that this legislation is going to evolve into reality because it has passed it?

What effort will be undertaken to reach out to those mostly small organizations frequently run by well-meaning volunteers who simply want to do good and who are now expected to report information about their activities?

Will Congress empower the Internal Revenue Service to engage in an educational-outreach effort, or will it simply encourage states to make a good-faith effort?

Without a concerted effort to educate nonprofit groups of all sizes and functions on their new responsibilities, these efforts to enhance transparency and accountability will languish.

The public will not gain additional information. The nonprofit community will not be better managed.

I call on Congress, the Treasury Department, the IRS, and the major organizations within the nonprofit sector to create an educational campaign to make the process work. Those groups should work in collaboration to hold forums, provide training, and make mentors available to those agencies that will find compliance disruptive if not budget-busting.

John C. McGee
Executive Director
Family Relations Program
Gainesville, Ga.