Nonprofits need national service boost, report says

National service advocates plan to tell a Senate committee on Tuesday that a surge in volunteerism could be a lifeline for overburdened nonprofit groups.

The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, whose chairman is Senator Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts, is to hear from Michael Brown, CEO of City Year, on the next generation of national service.

At the hearing, the Democratic Leadership Council's Bruce Reed, director of domestic policy in the Clinton administration, and John M. Bridgeland, who held the same job under President George W. Bush, plan to submit a report titled, "The Quiet Crisis: The Impact of the Economic Downturn on the Nonprofit Sector."

"As Americans struggle through the current recession, the nation's nonprofit organizations are facing a triple whammy: the evaporation of wealth has decimated charitable donations; the state and local budget crunch is costing nonprofits their foremost paying clients; and the human need for nonprofit help is skyrocketing while nonprofit resources shrink," the DLC says.

Among other recommendations, the report calls for Congress to pass a national service bill drafted by Kennedy and Senator Orrin Hatch, a Utah Republican, and supported by President Obama, to triple to 250,000 the opportunities for Americans to perform national and community service.