As President-elect Obama plans on Monday to appoint Hillary Rodham Clinton as the new secretary of state, the authors of Philanthrocapitalism have a piece of advice: lay off Bill Clinton.

As Mr. Clinton makes moves to limit his nonprofit activities to ameliorate concerns about his philanthropic connections, Mr. Obama may be hampering an important tool in U.S. foreign policy, argue Matthew Bishop, an Economist reporter, and Michael Green, a former British government aid worker.

“Yes, President Clinton should be more transparent in his philanthropy — especially about where the money is coming from. But his philanthropy is a valuable asset for America, particularly overseas, which President Obama should seek to harness not shut down,” they write on Values, a blog to promote their book.

The point out that despite being largely unpopular overseas, President Bush has gained...

Joel Berg, executive director of the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, is answering questions this week on a blog operated by The New York Times.

The City Room blog is soliciting readers to submit questions about how New Yorkers can reduce hunger in their city.

Mr. Berg is the author of a new book, All You Can Eat: How Hungry Is America, that intends to show Barack Obama how to meet his campaign goal of ending childhood hunger in America by 2015.

The book is being published as a new report finds that the use of food stamps has grown.

What do you think? How should the Obama administration end childhood hunger?

Michael Kleinman, an aid worker who blogs at Change.org, is collecting a list of humanitarian emergencies that go unnoticed, or, as he puts it, “places not to be.”

Topping Mr. Kleinman’s list is Afghanistan, where 8 million people depend on food aid. A “pitiable harvest,” caused in part by a severe drought, has also raised concerns about a possible famine.

The humanitarian situation is also bleak in the Central African Republic, where an estimated 20 percent of children die before their fifth birthday.

In Congo, meanwhile, peacekeepers have drawn fire of late for failing to protect civilians from recent fighting, says Mr. Kleinman. But on the positive side, he says the ceasefire seems to be holding and aid workers have more access to people in need.

Mr. Kleinman also draws attention to the humanitarian crises in Mindanao, Phillipines; Pakistan; Somalia; northern Kenya; and...

A guilty verdict in a trial against a Muslim charity has set off a firestorm among blog writers.

On Monday, a federal jury in Dallas declared the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and five former employees guilty of illegally funneling at least $12-million to the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas. A previous hearing of the case ended in a mistrial last year.

David Hazony, an Israeli scholar, hails the jury’s decision as an important step in fighting terrorism and says that it sends a signal to donors that they need to scrutinize where their money goes.

Writing for Commentary, a conservative magazine, he says, “Perhaps many donors to such organizations really are looking to help the Palestinians address their difficult humanitarian position. But as anyone involved in the nonprofit sector will tell you, philanthropists are not powerless to influence the work of the ...

Efforts to measure the impact of philanthropic dollars, and the success of charities, have been popping up more frequently of late. Lucy Bernholz, writing at Philanthropy 2173, has compiled a list of groups that are trying to spread information about the value of donations and the effectiveness of charities.

The problem for philanthropy, she says, is not that there is a dearth of people interested in assessing nonprofit effectiveness. It’s that there is a shortage of comprehensive ways to do so.

Among the efforts on Ms. Bernholz’s list:

-New Philanthropy Capital -GiveWell -GuideStar -Edna McConnell Clark Foundation -Social Solutions -Urban Institute Outcome Indicators -Nonprofit Reporter -University of Pennsylvania’s Center on High Impact Philanthropy -Charity Navigator -HIP Investor -Issue Lab

The full list is available on her blog. She welcomes readers to add the...

Should philanthropy be top down or bottom up?

Both, answers Paul Brest, president of the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, in Menlo Park, Calif.

During recent discussions about his book, Money Well Spent: A Strategic Plan for Smart Philanthropy, Mr. Brest has been taken to task for promoting what his critics call a top-down approach — that is, ignoring small charities and “community-based groups,” he writes on The Huffington Post.

But such organizations “are only a small part of the nonprofit sector,” he writes. “Regional, national, and international organizations concerned with civil rights, education, the environment, and global poverty, and hundreds of other issues play equally important roles in making the world a better place.”

What’s more, while some advocate giving to small groups without restrictions, Mr. Brest says that donors should have some oversight and...

Ask a group of donors how the sour economy has affected their giving, and you’ll probably hear talk about ensuring their donations have an impact. The plummeting stock market has made philanthropists all the more concerned that every dollar produce results.

Arabella Philanthropic Investment Advisors, which advises wealthy donors on their giving, has assembled a list of seven issues where philanthropic dollars can make a big difference. The group says that the causes are pressing, yet lack attention and support.

Among the causes highlighted in this year’s report, High-Impact Giving Opportunities: Philanthropy that Makes a Difference:

• Small-scale farming in Africa. When the global food crisis began, Africa was hit the hardest. Donors can help by supporting female farmers, increasing local productivity, and increasing awareness of wealthier countries’ agricultural policies, the ...

As part of its effort to pose “big questions,” the John Templeton Foundation is asking scholars, politicians, and scientists a key concern during America’s financial crisis — does the “free market erode moral character”?

In videos and essays on its Web site, the foundation has collected a variety of answers from a broad swath of people.

For example, Rick Santorum, a former Republican senator from Pennsylvania, argues that free markets require morals, but “free markets are no guarantor of moral character. As today’s cultural environment shows, the free market tends to heighten certain moral risks.”

And Michael Walzer, professor emeritus at the School of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study, in Princeton, N.J., writes, “Competition in the market puts people under great pressure to break the ordinary rules of decent conduct and then to produce good reasons for doing so...

Do you need a nonprofit makeover?

Social Citizens (Beta), a Web site created by the Case Foundation, is offering a “social-citizen makeover,” in which five winners will receive a video camera, a $100 gift certificate for Apple products, and advice from a social-media expert.

To enter the contest, participants must answer eight multiple choice questions to determine if they are indeed social activists. The first question asks:

Before I pledge my support (time or money) to a cause or organization I care about, I …

• Ask my friends what they know about it.

• Check out the organization’s Web site.

• Google it.

• Don’t bother researching it. They all do good, right?

After answering the quiz, participants must write a short essay on how they will use the potential prizes to further good causes.

“Some nonprofits just shouldn’t be allowed to have ad budgets,” writes Jeff Brooks, on his Donor Power Blog.

Mr. Brooks, creative director at a marketing firm that serves nonprofit groups, takes issue with what he calls “two more stupid nonprofit ads.”

His first target is a pair of print ads for Goodwill Industries, the social-services charity know for its thrift stores. One ad reads: “Dear Sarah Palin, We eagerly await your $150,000 clothing donation on Nov. 5. Thanks in advance.”

It refers to the pricey wardrobe the Republican vice presidential candidate was provided during the campaign (and the bit of controversy the shopping spree stirred up.) Campaign officials have said the clothing is to be donated to charity.

In a companion ad, the charity directed a request at Barack Obama. It says, in a nutshell, that the charity would “appreciate” it if he were to donate any of his...