In a procedural move, the Senate has decided -- at least for now -- not to debate and vote on a controversial bill that is intended to lift the veil on who is paying for advertisements and other communications that could influence elections. Many advocacy groups had objected to a donor-disclosure provision in the bill.

The measure last month was passed by the House of Representatives in response to a Supreme Court ruling.

The bill, known as the Disclose Act, would require corporations that issue political communications, including many advocacy groups organized under Section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code, to reveal information about their donors.

The Senate in coming weeks could reconsider its position on whether to debate and vote on the measure.

The BBB Wise Giving Alliance, a major charity watchdog, has released a list of its standards that national charities most commonly fail to meet when the alliance evaluates them against its "20 Standards for Charity Accountability."

"Insufficient transparency, inadequate board activity, and the lack of assessment of charity effectiveness account for the most failures in compliance," the alliance said in a statement.

The Wise Giving Alliance said that evaluation of the charities that provided it with requested information in the past two years found that 56 percent of charities met all 20 standards while groups in the remaining 44 percent did not meet one or more of the standards.

"Unfortunately, it's evident that many charities have more work to do to satisfy the expectations of donors," said Art Taylor, chief executive of the Wise Giving Alliance.

Following are the alliance standards...

In a second round of awards, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg and Nashville Mayor Karl Dean’s bipartisan coalition of mayors -- Cities of Service -- will award grants of $200,000 to 10 new cities. The money, paid over two years, will enable the cities to hire chief service officers, whose jobs will be to help increase volunteerism and help the cities respond to critical local problems.

The coalition project is financed jointly by the Rockefeller Foundation and Bloomberg Philanthropies.

“In each of the now 20 unique and diverse cities receiving this grant, there will now be sustained opportunities to bring systematic change and greater impact to the way communities support each other," Rockefeller's president, Judith Rodin, said in a statement.

The cities chosen to receive the grants are Atlanta; Austin, Tex.; Baltimore; Baton Rouge, La.; Chula Vista, Calif.; Houston; Little Rock, Ark.;...