A.G. Schneiderman Taps North Country Leader For Nonprofit Reform Committee

LAKE PLACID – Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman announced the appointment of Cali Brooks, Executive Director of the Adirondack Community Trust in Lake Placid, to serve on his Leadership Committee for Nonprofit Revitalization. Ms. Brooks is one of 29 leaders the Attorney General has charged with providing recommendations to improve nonprofit regulation and enforcement in New York.

"I am pleased Cali will serve with her colleagues across the state to reform the rules of the road so the nonprofit sector can thrive,” Attorney General Schneiderman said. “Nonprofits provide critical services to their communities and as the second largest employment sector in the state, their success is crucial to our economy. We can be tough on policing fraud without imposing needless burdens and costs on this vital sector, and the Leadership Committee is a central part of achieving those goals.”

The Attorney General oversees nonprofits operating in New York State, and Schneiderman has made the improvement of nonprofit regulation a priority for his office. Earlier this year, he announced he would convene a group of leaders from New York’s nonprofit, business and labor communities to help eliminate unnecessary bureaucracy that has long plagued nonprofits, such as redundant audits and overlapping reporting requirements, and delays in processing and payment of contracts. The nonprofit sector is the second largest employment sector in the state, providing work for between 17 and 18 percent of New York’s labor force.

“Nonprofit regulations are in need of reforms that provide our sector with the tools we need to thrive, and regulators with the information they need to enforce the law,” Cali Brooks said. “I am honored to be a part of Attorney General Schneiderman’s initiative to modernize the rules and ensure that our organizations can deliver the best results possible to the people they serve.”

Cali Brooks has served since 2001 as the Executive Director of the Adirondack Community Trust in Lake Placid, the community foundation serving the Adirondack region. In just 14 years, ACT has grown to $28 million in assets and has distributed over $15 million in grants and scholarships to the mountain communities throughout the Adirondacks.

Ms. Brooks also serves on the Membership Committee for the Council on Foundation and has worked with dozens of organizations throughout the United States, Southeast Asia and Central America to strengthen civil society.

The Leadership Committee’s activities will focus on the following:

• Making recommendations on how to reduce regulatory burdens and more effectively address regulatory concerns;
• Developing legislative proposals to modernize New York's nonprofit laws that would eliminate outdated requirements and unnecessary burdens; and
• Proposing measures to enhance board governance and effectiveness, including through new programs to recruit and train nonprofit board members.