Advisory Committee on Tax Exempt and Government Entities (ACT ...

The Appropriate Role Of The Internal Revenue Service With Respect To Tax-Exempt Organization Good Governance Issuesumbrella organization promulgating such standards. 62briefly on these different models.The following section touches1. Accreditation SystemsOver time, accreditation systems have evolved that focus on specific types oforganizations. In the usual case, accreditation is a form of self-regulation typicallyintended both to ensure high standards and improve quality in specific segments and tominimize external control by engendering public confidence in the accreditation process.The assumption is that some prescriptive standards are merited because there aresufficient commonalities across the class of organizations involved. Many accreditationschemes are quite comprehensive and call for compliance with extensive governanceand other requirements, comprehensive applications, self-assessments, and site visits.While accreditation in education and health care is probably the most well known, thereare numerous accreditation organizations, including for museums, 63 zoos andaquariums, 64 camps, 65 land trusts, 66 early childhood programs, 67 parks, 68 researchorganizations, 69 and other groups. 70There are many accrediting organizations in the education field, depending on thediscipline, the type of institution, the academic level, and other factors. For example, inthe area of postsecondary education, the U.S. Secretary of Education recognizesvarious accrediting agencies and state approval agencies as reliable authorities toaccredit postsecondary institutions and programs and then lists on a publicly availabledatabase those postsecondary institutions and programs accredited by an approvedagency. 71 It is the norm for such agencies to focus on governance requirements. Anillustration is the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which accreditsdegree-granting colleges and universities in Delaware, the District of Columbia,Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands,62Panel Principles, supra note 13, at 4 (paraphrased from the Preamble).63See, e.g., the accreditation program of the American Association of Museums, http://www.aamus.org/museumresources/accred/index.cfm.64See, e.g., the accreditation program of the Association of Zoos & Aquariums, http://www.aza.org/Accreditation.65See, e.g., the accreditation program of the American Camp Association, http://www.acacamps.org/accreditation.66See, e.g., the accreditation program of the Land Trust Alliance, http://www.landtrustaccreditation.org.67See http://www.nccic.org/poptopics/nationalaccred.html for a listing of national accreditation organizations for early childhoodprograms.68See. e.g., the accreditation program of the National Recreation and Park Association,http://www.nrpa.org/content/default.aspx?documentId=1038.69See, e.g., the accreditation programs of the Association for Assessment and Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care,http://www.aaalac.org/about/index.cfm, and The Association for Accreditation of Human Research Participant Protection Programs,http://www.ncddr.org/products/researchexchange/v07n01/7_aahrpp.html.70For example, the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability, http://www.ecfa.org/Content.aspx?PageName=WhatIsECFA,accredits “leading Christian nonprofit organizations that faithfully demonstrate compliance with established standards for financialaccountability, fund-raising and board governance.”71U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs, http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation.ADVISORY COMMITTEE ON TAX EXEMPT AND GOVERNMENT ENTITIES (ACT) June 11, 2008 22