The following is  an update on action taken by The Center’s  Advocacy Director related to issues  impacting the NH Nonprofit Community. We will periodically provide information on such action steps we take or those taken by The National Council of Nonprofits:

June 2009 - The Center has provided Senator Judd Gregg, who sits on the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies, with a letter requesting he honor the reservation of $5 million in federal funds annually for each of the fiscal years 2010-2014 for the Non-Profit Capacity Building Program in FY2010 as passed.

Our letter asked that Senator Gregg take this position, notwithstanding the Administration's budget proposal that would effectively de-fund the program for FY 2010. 
Those limited federal dollars would be matched dollar-for-dollar by other sources (such as foundations and corporations) to help strengthen capacity, effectiveness, and accountability of small and midsize nonprofits. Our letter also indicated, that as Senator Gregg knows, less than two months ago the Baucus-Grassley Amendment to the Serve America Act received unanimous consent, and that what Senator Baucus said on the Senate floor then still applies:  

“Small charities around our country serve people in need of food or clothing, run after school programs, provide housing counseling, and other services that are vital to our communities. But in many cases, these small charities lack access to education opportunities where they might learn how to manage the charity’s finances, fundraise effectively, accurately file tax forms, adopt new computer programs or plan a long term budget. In nonprofit circles, folks would say these small nonprofits lack ‘‘capacity,’’ and training in these areas is called ‘‘capacity-building.’’ Our amendment will add $5 million per year over 5 years to the budget of the Corporation for National and Community Service to make matching grants to larger organizations so they will, in turn, provide training to small and midsize charities throughout their State or region. These kinds of training opportunities are especially rare for charities located in rural areas.… That is why our amendment states that nonprofit training opportunities should be targeted at charities in areas with these resource challenges. The amendment also requires the grants to be dollar-for-dollar matching grants. The match must come from non-Federal sources, such as private foundations or corporate giving programs. It is important that both the Federal Government and the private sector pitch in to provide this support.” Congressional Record, March 24, 2009 .

Senator Grassley stated in his Press Release: “Small charities do a lot of good work.  They don’t have a lot of staff to take care of paperwork and fund-raising.  This program will help them learn skills and comply with tax laws so they can spend less time in the office and more time in the field, helping their communities.”

Senators Baucus and Grassley remain bipartisan champions for this needed program, and on 5-27-09 sent a joint letter to the Chair and Ranking Member of the Senate Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies, which has jurisdiction over the budget for the Corporation for National and Community Service.    The Senators “urge [the Subcommittee] to fully fund the Nonprofit Capacity Building Program in this year’s Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations bill.”
 
As Senator Gregg's position is made clear we will provide an additional update.