Curious about the political leanings of your favorite philanthropist? The Huffington Post now offers a tool that can help you find out.

On HuffPost FundRace, you can punch in a name and find out whether the person has made any donations to a political candidate, party, or committee since 2004. A map will even pop up to take you directly to the person's address.

We tried out a few names and can offer the following intelligence:

Eli Broad, head of the Los Angeles foundation that bears his name, apparently wants Democrats to keep control of Congress. He donated $30,000 to the Democratic Congressional Committee in 2009.

Bill Gates donated to both Democratic and Republican members of Congress in 2009 and 2010, including Jay Inslee, Democrat of Washington; Mike Pence, Republican of Indiana; Pete Sessions, Republican of Texas; and Dave Reichert, Republican of Washington.

Pamela and...

The Internal Revenue Service has released an online widget that charities, donors, and volunteers can place on their Web or social-networking sites "to help spread the word about the one-time filing relief for small organizations at risk of losing their tax-exempt status."

The IRS announced in July that small groups in danger of losing their exemptions because they have failed to file required informational tax returns (called Forms 990-N or e-Postcards) can preserve their charitable status by filing returns by October 15, 2010.

The new widget directs charities to click on the IRS Web site to obtain key information.

"When local charities lose, everybody loses: Protect your favorite charity's tax-exempt status," the widget says in part. "Many do not know of this law, or that they are at risk."

Instructions are provided on how to post the widgets. An example can be found below:

The U.S. Senate has again decided not to consider a controversial bill intended to lift the veil on who is paying for advertisements and other communications that advocacy groups and businesses sponsor to influence elections.

Many advocacy groups had objected to a donor-disclosure provision in the bill.

It was the second time the Senate decided not to take up the bill; the first was in July. The House of Representatives passed the measure in June 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 could again reconsider its position on whether to debate and vote on the measure.

Now that $10-million in Promise Neighborhoods grants have been announced, a new group is standing by to give advice to the winners—and to help out the many applicants that did not get any money.

The Promise Neighborhoods Institute—operated by PolicyLink, a social-justice research group—has been set up to provide services like consulting, Webinars, e-mail updates, and networking meetings to groups working on Promise Neighborhoods projects.

The institute has already planned a November meeting in Washington for the 21 grant winners, which won up to $500,000 each to plan comprehensive antipoverty projects modeled after the Harlem Children's Zone.

Angela Glover Blackwell, chief executive of PolicyLink, said the institute will also offer help to the more than 300 applicants that did not win money, advising them on how to keep their projects going, strengthen them, and raise money. "I know...

The Internal Revenue Service has released a draft version of the form that charities and other tax-exempt organizations will use to calculate a new tax benefit they will get under the federal health-care overhaul law.

As the IRS noted in an announcement, the new law offers a tax credit designed to encourage small employers to offer health insurance coverage or maintain the coverage they currently offer their workers.

The credit, which went into effect this year, was included in the federal health-care law enacted in March. The provision applies to employers with no more than 25 full-time employees and average wages below $50,000. Nonprofit organizations can apply the credit to certain payroll taxes.

The Internal Revenue Service said nonprofits eligible for the credit should claim it on a revised version of the Form 990-T, the IRS document that groups use to report business income not ...