A February review of the Head Start program, one of the largest federal early childhood programs, showed that the program is prone to wastefulness and inferior service due to the lack of federal oversight. The Government Accountability Office ("GAO"), who conducted the review, recommended that the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) develop a comprehensive risk assessment of the Head Start program and improve the processes it currently uses to collect information on program risks. GAO report on HHS Grantee Accountability The Head Start Bureau National Head Start Association

"If this is the nonprofit sector's version of boldness, I'd hate to see when they're being cautious," said Trent Stamp, executive director of Charity Navigator, a charity watchdog group in Mahwah, N.J. A great Chronicle of Philanthropy (subscription required) article about the Recommendations the Panel on the Nonprofit Sector recently submitted to the Senate Finance Committee.

There is an article in the Miami Herald about how nonprofits have stopped raising money for the tsunami reconstruction and have even begun returning money - not because there isn't reconstruction to be done - but because of all the scrutiny surrounding nonprofit accountability. Check out the article.

The definition of what constitutes a "member" or "congregant" may be getting bigger. Utilizing the technology of iPods and MP3 players, preachers are able to spread the gospel via audio shows downloaded from the internet onto MP3 players. Dubbed "godcasting", it has become the largest type of podcast being distributed. At issue for many nonprofits is what this means for church electioneering. Rep. Jones' current chuch electioneering bill allows houses of worship's clergy to advocate for or against candidates - to their members and congregants.