About Giving

GRANDPARENTS who take over care of their grandchildren need a wide array of support services, and the charities set up to help them are stretched thin.

A HANDFUL OF ADVOCACY GROUPS, including the AARP Foundation, have gone to bat for grandparent families, and last year won a significant victory on Capitol Hill.

A NONPROFIT APARTMENT COMPLEX IN THE BRONX offers subsidized housing specifically designed to meet the needs of grandparents charged with the care of their children's children.

FALLING "UNDER THE RADAR," custodial grandparents and the nonprofit groups that serve them have trouble attracting money from grant makers accustomed to focusing on single generations or broader causes.

A PLAY UNFOLDING ONSTAGE packs more punch than a speaker behind a microphone, one reason why some nonprofit groups are turning to theatrical productions to help their staffs deal with difficult issues.

IN HIS SPEECH IN CAIRO, President Obama pledged to help Muslim Americans give to charity.

THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: A charity in Indonesia promotes high-quality craftsmanship while helping weavers earn a living.

About Grant Makers

BOBBY SAGER'S STORY — wealthy philanthropist travels the world looking for worthy projects — is so colorful it could be a television show. Oh, wait — it already is one: The Philanthropist, which premieres next week on NBC, was inspired by his exploits.

AMERICAN INTERNATIONAL GROUP, the insurance behemoth that many place at the center of the financial crisis, needs more money for executive bonuses — and is suing a charitable institution to get it.

THE FORD FOUNDATION, in a move intended to help the organization maintain its level of grant making, has offered buyouts to a third of its 550 employees.

THE W.K. KELLOGG FOUNDATION plans to shut down two overseas offices and has already closed its facility in Jackson, Miss.

TO FULFILL A CAMPAIGN PROMISE by Barack Obama, a coalition of nonprofit groups and others have designed a national Web site to link people with volunteer opportunities, but critics say they have reinvented the wheel.

WORKING TOGETHER, COMMUNITY COLLEGES AND CHARITIES often do a better job than either could do alone of helping low-income adults find the way to a career.

NONPROFIT PROPERTY OWNERS in Minnesota scored a victory when the governor signed a bill specifying what charitable organizations qualify for state and local property-tax exemption (Tax Watch).

THE SAN FRANCISCO TAX ASSESSOR has ruled that the Roman Catholic archdiocese there owes up to $15-million in taxes on property whose ownership rights have been transferred to another entity, a decision the archdiocese is appealing (Tax Watch).

TAX WRITE-OFFS: The Internal Revenue Service gets a push to update international grant making rules, and a controversy at Liberty University prompts competing requests for the tax agency to investigate.

THE POPULATION OF NEW ORLEANS is hard to count, but getting the number right can be critical, so one charity turned to data on electrical hookups and building permits to come up with a better estimate (Innovations).

EMERGENCY GRANTS PROGRAMS announced by foundations and corporations.

About Fund Raising

CHARITABLE DONATIONS fell 5.7 percent last year, reports Giving USA, the steepest decline in more than 50 years of collecting such data.

RELIGIOUS ORGANIZATIONS were among the few to see donations rise last year, although plenty of them are struggling in the recession: a summary of giving to different types of nonprofit groups.

AS A PREDICTOR of how long the economic downturn will last, and when charitable giving might rebound, the 1970s provide a good parallel, experts say.

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

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

About Technology

KIVA, a charity known for arranging small loans from individuals to entrepreneurs in the developing world, is now creating the same opportunity for microbusinesses in the United States.

A NEW ONLINE GIVING SITE in North Texas has opened for business with a bang, raising some $4-million for local charities in its first few days.

About Philanthropy Careers

WHEN LAYOFFS OCCUR, some nonprofit organizations offer outplacement help as part of the severance package, but many small and medium-size charities cannot afford such services for their departing employees or find them unnecessary.

A MAN WITH A TROUBLED CHILDHOOD paired his experiences with those of an emergency-room physician to create a program that shows young people the real costs of urban violence (Lessons Learned).

TIPS FOR LANDING INFORMATION-TECHNOLOGY JOBS, how much fund raisers can expect to be paid, and searching for internships: advice from experts in our bimonthly Hotline column.

PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world.

LEGACIES: Christopher F. Randolph was president of the Marine Corps Scholarship Foundation.

Opinion and Books

JEFFREY SOLOMON, chief executive of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Philanthropies, says grant makers have been too quick to push mergers.

PABLO EISENBERG outlines the qualities President Obama should seek in the next nominee to head the Corporation for National and Community Service.

VINCE STEHLE explains why grants from the Helmsley foundation should have gone to the dogs.

LESLIE LENKOWSKY examines the new pop-culture image of philanthropists as heroic and — even better — cool.

NEW BOOKS: How foundations and other institutions do more harm than good in developing countries, and a guide for donors.