Community and civil-rights activists are criticizing Auburn, Calif.‘s decision to name a park after the Nobel Prize-winning physicist whose estate provided the land but who became a lightning rod for controversy during his life for his views on race and intelligence, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Auburn officials said they were not aware of the late William B. Shockley’s views when they accepted his estate’s donation of the 28-acre property on the condition that it be named for Mr. Shockley and his wife, Emmy, who died in 2007. However, officials said they do not plan to return the gift.

Mr. Shockley, who died in 1989, is credited as co-inventor of the transistor, for which he and two colleagues received the Nobel Prize in 1956. In subsequent years, he gained greater notoriety as a proponent of eugenics, a largely discredited movement that held that intelligence was a genetic...

The University of Miami medical school’s Institute for Human Genomics will be renamed for John P. Hussman following the investment-fund manager’s 10-year, $20-million gift, according to the Associated Press.

The institute, founded in 2007, focuses on human genome research to prevent, detect, and treat human diseases. Mr. Hussman, whose 15-year-old son is autistic, said he is “convinced that the research under way at the institute will lead to further breakthroughs in our knowledge” of that condition.

The money will also be used to research the role of genetics in other disorders, including Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.

In a rare joint interview, Bill Gates and his father, Bill Gates Sr., talk to USA Today about their family relationship and their outlook on philanthropy.

The elder Mr. Gates serves as co-chairman of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, started by his son in 1998, which is now the world’s largest charity.

And in a talk with The Wall Street Journal Eli Broad discusses at length his philanthropic work, which has included commitments of hundreds of millions of dollars to improving education and financing arts institutions in the Los Angeles area.

Mr. Broad contrasts East Coast and West Coast approaches to philanthropy and describes his giving as results-oriented “venture philanthropy” rather than “check-writing charity.”

Reading Rainbow, one of the longest-running children’s shows on public television, broadcast its final episode Friday, National Public Radio reports.

No one, including PBS, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the show’s home station, Buffalo’s WNED, would put up the several hundred thousand dollars needed to renew the 26-year-old show’s broadcast rights, said John Grant, who oversees shows at WNED.

In other arts news, British Columbia’s provincial government has slashed grants for cultural organizations, including some that had previously been guaranteed three years of support, says The Vancouver Sun. The $18.3-million in grant reductions follow a 40-percent cut in support for the B.C. Arts Council.

And The Charlotte Observer says that an anonymous donor has pledged $500,000 to the Charlotte Symphony if it can raise that much from other sources by December 31. The gift...

Tim Tebow, a University of Florida quarterback, has used his athletic fame to aid an orphanage in the Philippines and other causes while planning a long-term career in charity,” reports The New York Times.

Mr. Tebow, a Heisman Trophy winner who led Florida to last year’s national championship, has raised more than $300,000 for Uncle Dick’s Home in the Philippines, which his parents helped found while serving as missionaries. He visits the home most years, works with sick and needy children in Florida, and influenced teammates to boost the squad’s community-service hours.

Plus: The retired tennis star Andre Agassi, who started a school in his native Las Vegas and undertook other philanthropy efforts, will be honored tonight as the U.S. Open begins, notes the Times.

Read an article from the Chronicle’s archive about Mr. Agassi’s charity.

(Free registration is required to view...

A Brattleboro, Vt., man’s planned cross-country run to raise money for homeless teenagers is raising questions among potential contributors, reports The Barre Montpelier Times Argus.

Tellman Knudson, a millionaire Internet marketer who says he overcame a crippling leg condition, has received extensive local press for his campaign to run the equivalent of a marathon a day from New York to Los Angeles in his bare feet, starting September 9.

Visitors to Mr. Knudson’s fund-raising Web site are immediately asked for their names and e-mail addresses, and those who sign up receive e-mail messages referring them to the site of Mr. Knudson’s business, Overcome Everything Inc., which has been the subject of complaints on online forums about repeated solicitations for credit-card numbers and alleged unauthorized billing.

In response to the complaints, Mr. Knudson says, “Every business has...

A fund raiser’s pitch for donations instead of birthday gifts exceeded the goal he had set for the effort, reports Prospecting, the Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

After three years of writing one of the nonprofit world’s most popular blogs, Sean Stannard-Stockton is creating a new company to help wealthy donors with their giving — a venture that grew out of his online discussions, notes Give and Take, the Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus: A preview of this week’s Social Capitals Market meeting is a highlight of Monday’s daily digest of interesting opinion items online.

Join us tomorrow at noon U.S. Eastern time for a live online discussion on how charity leaders can recruit trustees whose outlook and agenda will aid their organization in reaching its goals.

The Chronicle’s online discussions are free and open to everyone. People who ask questions in advance have a better chance of getting answers.

Nonprofit organizations nationwide have been laying off staff members and taking other steps as the economy continues to take a toll on the budgets of charities of all kinds. But how can organizations make sure they are taking the smartest steps now — and avoiding approaches that could cause their most-talented workers to leave as the recession ends and the job market expands?

Those are among the questions The Chronicle is exploring in a new survey of nonprofit organizations we urge you to fill out. Organizations that participate in the survey will get a free copy of the results, which will also be discussed at a Chronicle Webinar in October.

The Chronicle won’t disclose the names of the groups that participate; our goal is to learn what approaches charities nationwide have taken. The survey should take only a few minutes to fill out and we urge you to pass this message on to the be...