National Council of Nonprofits Gains Ground with Senate Amendment

Washington, DC - Last night the U.S. Senate amended the pending Serve America Act by adopting the Baucus-Grassley Nonprofit Capacity Building Amendment.

The National Council of Nonprofits has been working closely on nonprofit capacity building legislation for several years with Senator Max Baucus (MT), Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and Senator Chuck Grassley (IA), Ranking Member of the Senate Finance Committee. Senators Baucus and Grassley were the lead co-sponsors of this important amendment. Thanks to their bipartisan leadership and the vocal support for the measure by community-based nonprofits across the country, the Senate adopted the Nonprofit Capacity Building Amendment by unanimous consent.

The National Council of Nonprofits, working with the dedicated Senate Finance Committee staff members and the elected leadership, developed legislation to create a $25 million matching grant program to provide needed technical assistance and training to strengthen small and midsize nonprofits on topics such as financial and legal compliance, grant-writing, and board governance. The legislation is especially crucial now during the nation’s economic crisis, when nonprofits must be strong safety nets for so many individuals and families in need.

“This amendment crystallizes five years of work by the National Council of Nonprofits and its state association members across the country,” said Doug Sauer, Board Chair of the National Council of Nonprofits and CEO of the New York Council of Nonprofits. “The coordinated effort by the state associations through their 20,000 local members to first get this amendment introduced, and then to get it supported so strongly that it was adopted by unanimous consent, shows our network’s unique power. By linking local community nonprofits through the state associations to create a collective national voice, we had the strength of ideas and numbers.”

Tim Delaney, President & CEO of the National Council of Nonprofits, observed, “This Nonprofit Capacity Building Amendment, crafted by Senators Baucus and Grassley, two of the Senate’s most respected leaders, signals an important first step in renewing the compact between the government and nonprofit sectors that so many leaders have been calling for. After all, governments and nonprofits serve the same constituents and the same communities.”

“While exciting,” Delaney warned, “this important first step of getting the Nonprofit Capacity Building Amendment adopted unanimously is not enough. The National Council is also a proud member of the larger ServiceNation coalition. Now our network must focus its energies to help our teammates pass the Serve America Act passed by the Senate, agreed to by the House, and signed by the President. Moving forward together – as nonprofits, volunteers, and government – we can and must get this done for the common good of our country.”

More information on the Baucus-Grassley Nonprofit Capacity Building Amendment and the Serve America Act can be found at the National Council’s website, www.councilofnonprofits.org.

###