About Gifts and Giving

WITH MONEY TO GIVE AWAY, a hedge-fund employee went looking for data on charities' performance and ended up starting his own group, GiveWell, to evaluate the effectiveness of nonprofit organizations.

GIVEWELL'S ATTEMPTS to make its philanthropy completely transparent have been a mixed blessing for grant applicants.

HOW TO MEASURE whether charities are actually making a difference is becoming a concern of more and more donors.

GREAT NONPROFITS offers online "customer reviews" of charities written by the people who have been helped by them and the volunteers who work for them.

AMONG WEALTHY DONORS, entrepreneurs tend to be the most generous, a new study released by Bank of America has found.

MANY DONORS give to charity sporadically, a study of U.S. households suggests.

DONATIONS BY COMPANIES grew by nearly 5 percent last year, according to a survey by the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy.

ORAL ROBERTS UNIVERSITY received a pledge of $70-million that is contingent on a 90-day financial review; other new gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions.

THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: The Thoroughbread Rescue Foundation, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., provides job training to prison inmates by teaching them to care for former racehorses.

About Fund Raising

THE NATIONAL PARK FOUNDATION is embarking on a drive to promote private giving to the country's national parks.

TO MARK THE CENTENNIAL of the National Park Service in 2016, Congress is considering legislation that could provide the parks with up to $100-million a year over the next 10 years.

FUND RAISERS ARE HURRYING to persuade older donors to take advantage of a law allowing tax-free donations from individual retirement accounts before the provision expires on December 31.

ARTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS are hoping for changes in laws governing conservation easements and donations of artwork, both passed at the same time as the retirement-account measure.

AN UNUSUAL OFFER of a gift of property piqued the interest, and aroused the suspicions, of more than a dozen charities; no one has bitten so far, it appears.

AN ONLINE FASHION SHOW, a charitable approach to "regifting," self-published books, an interfaith alliance, a campaign to redefine the spirit of Christmas, a family video game, and an Internet treasure hunt: In the annual rush to attract year-end donations, charities and foundations across the country are trying out an array of new ideas.

GRANT-PROPOSAL WRITERS and others who help charities win grant money may now earn a new credential, offered by the American Association of Grant Professionals.

UPDATE ON CAMPAIGNS for endowments, capital improvements, and other needs.

INTEREST RATES for planned gifts, issued by the Internal Revenue Service.

About Managing Nonprofit Groups

THE RED CROSS BOARD'S DECISION to fire its chief executive, Mark W. Everson, barely more than a week after learning of his extramarital affair with an official of one of its affiliates drew mixed reviews from many charity observers.

INTRAOFFICE RELATIONSHIPS could get new scrutiny from charities in the wake of the Red Cross's dismissal of its leader.

AID GRANTED TO A CHRISTIAN PROGRAM at an Iowa state prison is unconstitutional, a federal appeals court has ruled.

THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE has revoked the tax exemption of a California charity that was found to be funneling money to a state official's election campaign.

A SHELTER FOR ABUSED WOMEN in North Carolina seeks to become a "one-stop shop" for a wide array of services to help its clients back on their feet.

NEARLY 90 PERCENT of nonprofit groups reported in a new survey that they have revised their governance policies in the five years since Congress passed the Sarbanes-Oxley legislation.

WITH A LONG TRACK RECORD as a fund raiser for health charities, Mitch Stoller took up leadership of the Marrow Foundation, hoping to quadruple donations to the marrow-donor program (New on the Job).

AT 5, JACOB KOMAR was already writing software programs; at 15, he's the driving force behind a Connecticut charity that provides refurbished computers to needy families (Entry Level).

TIPS FOR RETURNING TO THE JOB MARKET after a long illness, finding information about nonprofit groups in Britain, gearing up for a career in communications at a charity, and answers to other readers' questions in our Hotline advice column.

REPORTS ON CHARITIES by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance.

About Grant Makers

AFTER 37 YEARS AT THE FORD FOUNDATION, rising from research assistant to president, Susan V. Berresford intends to keep her hand in philanthropy in her retirement.

EUROPEAN PHILANTHROPY has a major role to play in bolstering scientific research on the continent, speakers told foundation, government, and university officials at a conference in Brussels.

RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers.

SUMMARIES OF ANNUAL REPORTS from the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the New York Community Trust.

About Technology

LOW-COST WIND TURBINES and an unusual use for seaweed were among the creative uses of technology that won awards for nonprofit organizations from the Tech Museum of Innovation.

A $15-MILLION GRANT from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation will make a complex medical-simulation tool more widely available and far easier to use.

TECHNOLOGY BITS: The technology charity Benetech has received a $32-million grant from the federal government; the Case Foundation has posted on its Web site the top 100 projects in its Make It Your Own Awards.

Also in This Issue

OPINION: The Hudson Institute's William Schambra warns of the long-term consequences of stepped-up advocacy by nonprofit organizations.

LETTERS: on changes at the Public Welfare Foundation, diversity in religious charities, threats to free speech from Capitol Hill, the upside of self-regulation, and differing measures of online giving.

BOOKS: A look at how social enterprise can fight poverty, a guide to the ways technology is changing charity, essays on gender and educational philanthropy, plus summaries of other publications on thechallenges facing schools on the Gulf Coast, the essential components of nonprofit leadership, and how conservative foundations influenced school-voucher efforts.

PRESS CLIPPINGS: Barron's ranks the most-effective philanthropists; and Fast Company tracks the intermingling of business and philanthropy in the field of social entrepreneurship.

PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world.

AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy.