This week Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) introduced “The Nonprofit Sector and Community Solutions Act” (H.R. 5533). The purpose of this bill is to improve coordination between the nonprofit sector and the federal government by establishing a bipartisan, 16-member U.S. Council on Nonprofit Organizations and Community Solutions, as well as the Interagency Working Group on Nonprofit Organizations and the Federal Government. It would also compile data on the health of the nonprofit sector.

Currently no federal agency or congressional committee has responsibility for evaluating, building, or maintaining the capacity of the nonprofit sector.

According to Diana Aviv, CEO and President of Independent Sector, the federal legislation would: “produce annual reports and recommendations and convene summits; create interagency coordination by being located in the White House (e.g. similar to the Social Innovation Fund); and require the Department of Commerce to collect the kind of data it compiles about the for-profit sector and make it available to the nonprofit sector.” Data provided by the Bureau of Labor Statistics would include nonprofits as a distinct category of employer.