An analysis of hundreds of tax documents filed by NBA players’ charities has found that many of these groups are poorly managed and inefficient, reports The Salt Lake Tribune.

The newspaper studied documents from 89 such charities. On average, the Tribune said, the charities “put just 51 cents of each dollar it spent toward charitable programs, well below the 65 cents most philanthropic watchdog groups view as acceptable.”

The newspaper also found that some of these charities lose money on fund-raising events, that up to one fourth fail to adequately document finances, and that a third of the charities are financed only by the founder.

Investments from charitable foundations may have been key in helping Bernard Madoff sustain his Ponzi investment scheme for so many years, writes a columnist in Fortune magazine.

Mitchell Zuckoff, professor of journalism at Boston University and the author of Ponzi’s Scheme: The True Story of a Financial Legend, says most Ponzi deals collapse rather quickly, as withdrawals from investors exceed money coming in.

But because most charitable foundations spend no more than the federally required 5 percent of their funds each year, Mr. Zucoff suggests, Mr. Madoff could count on foundations not to withdraw large amounts from his fund, ensuring that there wouldn’t be a “run on the bank” that would cause his investment structure to collapse.

In the current mortgage crisis, churches seem to be increasingly falling behind or defaulting on loans, going into foreclosure, or going bankrupt, reports The Wall Street Journal.

Churches have historically been good credit risks, according to lenders, but with donations falling by as much as 15 percent in some places, dwindling congregations, and churches that have borrowed aggressively to build or expand in recent years, that may be changing, reports the newspaper.

Some board members of the Philadelphia Cultural Fund are upset that the city’s mayor, Michael Nutter, decided to provide a $250,000 unscheduled grant from their organization to the Philadelphia Orchestra without the cultural fund’s advice or standard review process, reports the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The board has yet to take action, fearing a negative reaction from the administration. Gary Steuer, the city’s chief cultural officer, said the mayor’s decision was a “lesson learned” and that the emergency grant was a unique situation. “I don’t think it’s something that would become common practice,” he said.

Small homeless shelters in New York may begin closing due to changes in city rules, reports The New York Times.

Last September, city officials decided to stop referring homeless men and women to shelters that were open fewer than five nights a week, which caused about 20 of them to close. This month, city officials announced that as of June, homeless shelters would need to serve hot meals and provide transportation to keep receiving money from the city.

Some managers of small shelters say they are frustrated by the new rules and that it is impossible in some cases to comply with them without adding costly staff or equipment. A city official who oversees shelter services told the Times that the new rules are an attempt to make the system more efficient.

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Two arts and cultural leaders weigh in on how the federal government could help arts and cultural organizations during these dark economic days.

In an opinion article in The Washington Post, Michael Kaiser, president of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, in Washington, suggests Congress pass legislation to provide arts groups with emergency grants and allow immediate tax breaks for corporate giving to arts organizations. In addition, he urges government officials to take action to prompt foundations to spend more than the minimum 5 percent of their endowments now required by federal law.

William R. Ferris, former chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, writes in an article in The New York Times that President-elect Obama should create a cabinet-level position, a secretary of culture, to provide cohesive leadership for groups such as the Corporation...

Should donors aid nonprofit victims of Ponzi schemes like the Madoff investment scandal? That is the topic of a new post in Give & Take, The Chronicle’s roundup of the best blog posts about the nonprofit world.

Plus:

• A new report’s criticism of how the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation fights diseases is being debated.

• Tips for new philanthropists.

Many people do all their giving in a few frenzied days toward the end of December, but what steps can charities take to encourage donors to think about giving all year round? That is a topic discussed in a recent post on Prospecting, The Chronicle’s online fund-raising column.

Plus: According to a new survey, fund raisers say they are somewhat confident about meeting year-end fund-contribution goals.

What will 2009 mean for your charity’s fund-raising, grant-seeking, and budgeting efforts? What will the economic meltdown and shifting demographics mean to your bottom line?

Join us on January 6 at noon for an online discussion with experts from New York University’s Heyman Center for Philanthropy and Fundraising and the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University. They will discuss economic trends, changes in Washington, donor demographics, and other key issues that are relevant to your organization’s operations in the new year.

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

An archive of past discussions is available at http://philanthropy.com/live.

This is the last issue of Philanthropy Today in 2008. We’ll be back in your mailbox on Friday, January 2. We wish all of our readers a happy new year.