Good evening!

This special extra edition of Philanthropy Today comes to you tonight with highlights from the day’s sessions of the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals, held in New Orleans—along with a news update on the passage of federal legislation to vastly expand community-service programs.

We’re keeping our special conference notebook filled with information to help you do a better job of seeking money for your cause. Be sure to check it out regularly to see our latest update. Or rely on this e-mail message for a quick summary of what matters most.

And if you’re attending the conference, we hope you’ll visit The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s business and editorial representatives, at Booth No. 520. Visitors will get a preview of our newly designed Web site and a generous discount on our new digital-subscription option.

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Americans are no longer seen as the most innovative fund raisers in the world—and should look overseas for ideas, say two experts on international giving who spoke today at the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

With the economic downturn making it harder to raise money, 51 percent of nonprofit organizations that are amid capital or endowment campaigns have extended the length of their drives, and an additional 11 percent have reduced the amounts they are trying to raise, according to a study released today at the annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

In recent years, donors have turned more to investment advisers for suggestions on how to give money away, and less to lawyers and estate planners.

But now that investment experts have infuriated many donors who lost money in the stock market and elsewhere, that trend may no longer continue said a giving expert who spoke at today’s meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

Nonprofit groups should work aggressively to involve people in their 20s and 30s.

But Derrick Feldmann, president of Achieve, a consulting company in Indianapolis, said the groups should not expect young donors to open up their checkbooks quickly.

Nor should they expect to raise significant money, he told an audience at the Association of Fundraising Professionals annual conference, in New Orleans.

Even if the initial return is low, however, nonprofit groups should keep up their efforts to seek out young donors, he said. Mr. Feldmann offered four ideas to help nonprofit groups reach young people in an audio interview with The Chronicle.

Grant seekers should always show how they will evaluate their projects—and how they will show grant makers the results—even if foundations don’t require such a pledge, says an experienced reviewer of proposals who spoke at today’s annual meeting of the Association of Fundraising Professionals.

She suggested that small charities that can’t afford expensive evaluations should seek out a graduate student at a local college who may be interested in following a grant as part of a thesis.

The House of Representatives today approved a national-service bill has also been passed by the Senate. The legislation, which vastly expands federal service programs, now goes to President Obama. He is expected to sign the bill into law when he returns from his overseas trip, which began today.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the National Science Fund are joining forces on a five-year, $48-million project to support agriculture in the developing world, the Associated Press reports.

The program will seek proposals to deal with droughts, pests, disease, soil quality, and other problems plaguing small farmers.

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President Obama on Monday reiterated his call for Sudan to let expelled humanitarian agencies back into the country and suggested he would “find some mechanism” to get aid to Darfur if it did not, The New York Times reports.

Officials in the Sudanese capital of Khartoum expelled 13 aid groups this month, saying they were helping the International Criminal Court prosecute President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on war-crimes charges. The move exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the strife-torn Darfur region.

Mr. Obama did not specify what Washington might do, but activists who met with the president at the White House raised the possibility of sanctions or the establishment of “humanitarian corridors” for supplies of food, water, and medicine.

Read The Chronicle’s article for background about the situation facing charities that were ousted from Sudan.

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With banks continuing to keep a tight rein on credit, American small businesses and would-be entrepreneurs are increasingly turning to nonprofit lenders for financing, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Typically nonprofit lenders have focused on making small grants to entrepreneurs from impoverished neighborhoods in the United States and elsewhere, offering small capital injections at higher interest than banks but with more lenient screening and greater flexibility in repayment.

Kathy Ricci, executive director of the Utah Microenterprise Loan Fund, said the organization doubled its loan volume last year to $1.2-million. “We are seeing more people that perhaps a year ago could have gotten a bank loan,” she said.

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