Dan L. Duncan, a Texan whose oil-pipeline fortune fueled extensive giving to hospitals, medical research, and other causes, died Sunday at his Houston home, says Bloomberg. He was 77.

Mr. Duncan's Enterprise Products is the country's largest pipeline partnership, and Forbes estimated his worth at $9-billion.

While he also gave to museums and youth organizations such as the Boy Scouts of America, Mr. Duncan's philanthropic focus was health care. He gave an estimated $250-million to the Texas Medical Center system over the past five years and donated $100-million to the Baylor College of Medicine, where he was treated for prostate cancer in 1995.

Mr. Duncan and his family ranked No. 15 on The Chronicle's most recent annual ranking of donors by generosity.

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A trio of Michigan groups active on health and legal issues is raising objections to the proposed sale of the Detroit Medical Center to a for-profit company, reports the Detroit Free Press.

In a letter to the state's attorney general, the Michigan Universal Health Care Network, the local clergy charity Moses, and Michigan Legal Services contend the planned purchase by Nashville's Vanguard Health Systems violates state law and threatens continued care for the poor.

The Detroit hospital says the sale would provide $850-million for needed improvements and pay off the institution's pension and bond debt. Attorney General Mike Cox must approve the deal.

With donations down 60 percent from last year, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra has suspended operations and will focus on restructuring in hopes of saving next season, writes The Post and Courier.

The disruption marks a first in the 75-year-old South Carolina company's history. Ted Legasey, president of the symphony's board, said the organization will cut staff positions and devise a recovery plan in an effort to avoid bankruptcy and regain its financial footing.

In other arts news, Charles Ryskamp, the longtime director of two of New York's most prestigious small museums, died Friday at age 81, The New York Times reports.

Mr. Ryskamp, a literary scholar and art collector, ran the Pierpont Morgan Library from 1969 to 1987, when he was named director of the Frick Collection, a post he held until 1997. At both institutions, he was credited with making numerous key acquisitions and...

A new nonprofit research firm has issued its first report on Massachusetts charities, using a rating system designed to help donors select the organizations most worthy of investment in particular causes, The Boston Globe writes.

The study, released Wednesday by Cambridge's Root Cause, focuses on school-readiness programs, evaluating providers based on their financial health, local impact, and implementation of best practices, as determined by researching the larger issue.

Root Cause's chief executive, Andrew Wolk, said the firm—which was started with $500,000 from the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation—plans eventually to take its rating system nationwide. It has formed a partnership with the online site GuideStar as part of its plans.

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The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is raising its investment in maternal and newborn health care, a strategy Melinda Gates said gives donors "more bang for your buck" in working to improve global health, reports The Seattle Times.

Speaking Monday on a conference call with members of the antipoverty charity ONE and Melanne Verveer, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for global women's issues, Ms. Gates cited efforts such as promoting breast feeding during a child's first six months, which can increase immunity and reduce exposure to disease.

"To do that costs about $2 to $7 to save a life," compared to the much larger later cost to treat a malaria or AIDS patient, she said.

The founder of a charity dedicated to nurturing young performing artists has been arrested in connection with an alleged relationship with a Russian ballet dancer he met when male dancer was 12, says The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Kenneth Schneider was charged with two counts of sex tourism in an indictment returned January 14 and unsealed Tuesday. He was arrested Saturday in Cyprus, where authorities alleged he had fled to avoid prosecution.

According to the indictment, Mr. Schneider, founder of New York's Apogee Foundation, met the dancer in Moscow in 1998 and embarked on a long-term sexual relationship. U.S. Attorney Michael Levy said the investigation was prompted by a civil suit the dancer filed in 2007, which claimed Mr. Schneider established the foundation to make illicit contact with young performers in the former Soviet Union.

Mr. Schneider's lawyer said his client would defend...

Chris Daggett, a New Jersey environmental consultant who raised his statewide profile with an independent run for governor last year, has been named chief executive of the Geraldine R. Dodge Foundation, according to The Star-Ledger.

He will take the reins at Dodge, one of the state's largest private philanthropies, on June 14, replacing David Grant. The $238-million foundation makes grants to arts, education, and environmental groups and to local organizations in its home of Morris County.

Mr. Daggett, a former head of the state Department of Environmental Protection, "has a very clear view of New Jersey and what its problems and opportunities are," said Robert LeBuhn, chairman of the foundation's board.

A California college's foundation has triggered an uproar at the school by inviting Sarah Palin to headline a June fund-raising event, The Modesto Bee reports.

A state senator is demanding to know how much the Cal State University Stanislaus Foundation is paying the ex-governor of Alaska to speak at the $500-a-ticket event that marks the university's 50th anniversary. A student group is organizing a protest, and a campus professor started a Facebook group opposing the invitation, saying the event should be about the institution rather than a "celebrity."

The foundation's president, Matt Swanson, said the organization is contractually bound to keep Ms. Palin's speaking fee private but that it is being covered by new private donations rather than any existing university or foundation funds. He called Ms. Palin's invitation "a great opportunity to do something that would make fund-raising...

With the United Nations summit to raise funds for Haiti's reconstruction looming, response to the appeal for immediate humanitarian aid has slowed to a trickle, says Reuters.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs quickly reached the $575-million goal of its initial "flash appeal" for relief funds to help quake survivors deal with rising violence and the impending hurricane season, but after the organization raised its goal to $1.4-billion pledges largely dried up.

Donors are set to gather in New York on Wednesday for a conference aimed at raising $3.8-billion for long-term recovery efforts in the devastated Caribbean nation. Helen Clark, head of the U.N. Development Program, said that with the "big ask for recovery" coming up, "maybe donors have held back a little."

Spiking revenue from lottery-ticket sales is helping British heritage programs recover from the loss of funds diverted to help pay for the 2012 London Olympics, the Guardian reports.

Lottery sales since September saw the biggest increase in five years, taking the Heritage Lottery Fund's budget for the coming 12 months to about $307-million. The fund, which makes grants to build and preserve castles, parks, museums, and archives, had lost $241-million to the Olympics drive and was bracing for cuts in government spending.

Similar good news is expected regarding the share of lottery profits for arts- and sports-related causes.