Accountability Standards for Charities Revised

The Charities Review Council, a group in St. Paul, Minn., that serves people who support charities with financial donations, has launched revised accountability standards for nonprofits, along with an updated online tool nonprofits can use to review their compliance with the new standards.

Initially drafted in 1998, the council says it updated the changes to address charity performance in the areas of public disclosure, governance, financial activity and fundraising, and to reflect economic, demographic, legal and societal changes.

A major focus, the group says, is the importance of engaged and effective governance, with the revised standards reflecting questions posed by the new Form 990 that many nonprofits must file with the IRS.