Several big foundations in New York are suffering from the recent collapse of Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns and the government takeover of the American International Group, reports The New York Times.

The Starr Foundation, which held 15.5 million shares of AIG in May, has seen its assets fall by at least $1-billion since the end of 2006. As a result, the grant maker says it will postpone some planned grants. The personal foundations of Bear Stearns executives have also taken losses, and the future of Lehman Brothers Foundation is in question now that Lehman Brothers is bankrupt.

See The Chronicle’s article on the effects on philanthropy of the problems at AIG.

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The Howard Hughes Medical Institute, one of the nation’s wealthiest grant makers, has chosen Robert Tjian, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at the University of California at Berkeley, to serve as its new president, reports The New York Times.

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Arts groups have been taking creative measures to increase donations and attendance since the 2001 economy slump, efforts that are becoming increasingly important in the current downturn, reports the Los Angeles Times.

Dance and theater groups, and museums have been trying new ways to draw participants, such as offering a “complete experience” that includes a meal and educational components, as opposed to just offering a single performance or exhibit. And many arts groups are trying to collaborate and learn from one another, the article says.

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Emory University has announced a $1.6-billion fund-raising campaign to run through 2012 and has already collected pledges of $800-million, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

The Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation is receiving a pro bono makeover to show the public why research on spinal-cord injuries is important, reports The New York Times.

The campaign is being created by agencies owned by the Omnicom Group. John Osborn, a foundation board member and president of one of the advertising agencies owned by Omnicom, says that spinal-cord injury is generally not “thought about till something happens to someone close to you or to yourself,” he adds.

To bring the issue to the public eye, the ads seek to demonstrate the difficulty that paralyzed people experience doing normal, everyday tasks. For example, one ad shows an Aztec pyramid. The word “You” is at the bottom and the words “Your refrigerator” are all the way at the top. Another ad shows the Golden Gate Bridge, with the word “You” is at one end and the words “Your backyard” at the other.

The ads a...

The decision to give the first Steinberg Distinguished Playwright Award to Tony Kushner, the Pulitzer Prize-winner author of Angels in America is inappropriate, says Terry Teachout, the drama critic for The Wall Street Journal.

The prize, given by the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, carries with it a $200,000 award. Mr. Teachout says the trust’s intention to use the prize to support “the growth and talent of outstanding playwrights . . . and encourage them to stay in their field” will not be fulfilled by showering yet another accolade on the well-established Mr. Kushner.

Read the transcript of our online discussion today on the state of nonprofit compensation.

The Los Angeles County Museum of Art has announced that it has received $45-million in cash and $10-million in artworks from the business entrepreneurs Lynda and Stewart Resnick, reports The New York Times.

The gift will support a new exhibition pavilion designed by Renzo Piano and will bear the couple’s name.

The Resnicks donated some of the money earlier but did not get attention for their gift.

In 2006, the Resnicks donated $25-million for a new entrance pavilion but agreed to relinquish naming rights to the oil company BP after it donated $25-million to the museum.

No details are known as to what works of art have been donated to the museum. The Resnicks are the co-chairmen of Roll International, a private holding company that owns Paramount Citrus, one of the nation’s largest citrus producers, as well as Fiji Water and Pom Wonderful pomegranate juice.

Ms. Resnick is...

Thirty-three pastors from across the country on Sunday attempted to break a federal tax law that forbids members of the clergy from endorsing political candidates lest their organizations lose their tax-exempt status, reports The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal.

The Post quotes one pastor, the Rev. Ron Johnson Jr., who said that voting for the Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama was proof of “severe moral schizophrenia.”

The actions of the 33 pastors are part of a campaign organized by the Alliance Defense Fund, a conservative legal consortium in Arizona, hoping to spark a lawsuit that will eliminate the law that prohibits tax-exempt religious organizations from politicking. The law was set in 1954.

Although the Defense Fund says it tried to recruit both liberal and conservative pastors to take part in the campaign, most of the participants seem to be...

Republicans have accused the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn), a housing advocacy group that is also known for its voter-registration drives, of voter fraud, reports National Public Radio.

Sean Cairncross, general counsel for the Republican National Committee said of the group, “It is at best a quasi-criminal Democrat-affiliated organization that willfully and openly breaks the law, is a clear and present danger to the integrity of the election process, and constitutes a threat to public safety.”

Mr. Cairncross alleges that employees hired to register new voters have forged voter-registration records and have felonies on their criminal records.

Michael Slater, executive director of Project Vote, a nonprofit organization that works with Acorn in voter-registration drives, said that the Republicans’ allegations are unfounded.

He said, “It’s very...