Task Force Charged With Reducing Regulatory Burdens on Nonprofits While Strengthening Accountability

29 Leaders from Across New York State to Make Recommendations by End of the Year

Schneiderman: We Must Reform Our Regulatory Framework to Allow Nonprofits to Thrive

[En Español]

NEW YORK - Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman today announced the members of his Leadership Committee for Nonprofit Revitalization. The task force, composed of 29 leaders in the nonprofit sector from across New York State, is charged with presenting a series of recommendations to the Attorney General to reduce the regulatory burdens and costs on nonprofits while strengthening nonprofit accountability.

"For too long, New York’s regulatory framework has placed unnecessary burdens on nonprofits, which are simply untenable during these challenging financial times,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “We must modernize the rules of the road so the nonprofit sector can thrive. We can be tougher on policing fraud without imposing needless burdens and costs on this vital sector of New York’s economy.”

Statewide, nonprofits employ between 17 and 18 percent of New York's workforce. In New York City, nonprofits employ 500,000 people.

At an April meeting of the Association for a Better New York, the Attorney General, whose office oversees nonprofits operating in New York State, announced that he would work with the state's nonprofit sector and business and labor communities to help eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy that has long plagued nonprofits, such as redundant audits and overlapping reporting requirements, and delays in processing and payment of contracts.

Based on the key issues that the nonprofit sector has identified to the Attorney General's Office, the Leadership Committee’s activities will focus on the following:

• Making recommendations on how to reduce regulatory burdens and more effectively address regulatory concerns;
• Developing legislative proposals to modernize New York's nonprofit laws that would eliminate outdated requirements and unnecessary burdens while strengthening accountability; and
• Proposing measures to enhance board governance and effectiveness, including through new programs to recruit and train nonprofit board members.

The Leadership Committee will be staffed by the Attorney General's Charities Bureau Chief, Jason Lilien, and will be charged with completing its work by the end of this year.