When President Bush signed the pension bill into law today, elected leaders took important steps to strengthen the charitable community and the American tradition of generosity.

The safeguards that became law will help ensure that unscrupulous people cannot use charitable organizations to enrich themselves. The law also provides important new opportunities for increasing charitable giving by Americans. The IRA roll-over offers a valuable method for attracting more contributions if we in the charitable community can bring it to the attention of our donors.

The enactment of this legislation is an important first step in strengthening America’s charities and foundations. For the law to be effective in deterring abuse, the IRS and the states must receive the resources necessary for oversight and enforcement. In addition, Independent Sector recognizes that, as with most legislation, there are details that will need to be adjusted, and we look forward to working with policymakers to do so. To facilitate compliance with the new law, we also urge the Treasury Department to issue regulations as soon as possible, and we are eager to be of assistance in the process.

Independent Sector and the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector salute Chairman Grassley and Senator Baucus for leading this effort in a thoughtful and bi-partisan way. We also appreciate Chairman Thomas and his colleagues in the House of Representatives for their work on this bill. We thank Senator Santorum for his support of the giving incentives.

Independent Sector and the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector express our gratitude to the thousands of public charities and private foundations around the country that participated in developing the recommendations of the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector. We especially thank those who worked with policymakers, particularly in the Senate, to ensure that the safeguard provisions reflected the Panel’s recommendations. The efforts of all these organizations have helped advance a more effective, more ethical charitable sector.

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Independent Sector is a nonprofit, nonpartisan coalition of approximately 600 charities, foundations, and corporate philanthropy programs, collectively representing tens of thousands of charitable groups in every state across the nation. Its mission is to advance the common good by leading, strengthening, and mobilizing the charitable community.

The Panel on the Nonprofit Sector is an independent panel of 24 leaders from a wide range of the country's public charities and private foundations. Convened by Independent Sector at the encouragement of the leadership of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee, the Panel has worked since October 2004 to develop recommendations to improve the governance, ethical conduct, and oversight of nonprofit organizations. A Citizens Advisory Group, an Expert Advisory Group, and five specialized Work Groups assisted the Panel, which also invited input from charities and foundations of all sizes serving diverse missions and geographic locations. The Panel released a major report in June 2005, a supplement in April 2006, and plans to make further recommendations on self-regulation and financial reporting. Its current work is being assisted by an Advisory Committee on Self-Regulation of the Charitable Sector and advisory committees on financial reports.