About 300 nonprofit officials and members of the Washington elite rubbed shoulders last night at a swanky Washington nightclub to celebrate the start of the Obama administration — and enjoy free alcohol.

The aptly named party — “Cocktails we can believe in” — was an invitation-only event sponsored by TechnoServe, a international aid charity, and three nonprofit consulting and communications companies.

Leaders from Global Voices, the Association of Small Foundations, and other nonprofit groups mingled with art curators and members of the news media, like Matthew Bishop, co-author of Philanthrocapitalism.

Several party-goers were dressed in tuxedos and gowns, apparently ready to make a quick exit to even more-upscale gatherings: pre-inaugural galas.

As part of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, more than 10,000 volunteers descended on Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium in Washington to make care packages for U.S. military personnel overseas.

At the event, which was the largest service effort in the city, hundreds of volunteer managers were needed to organize the crowds.

One of them, Alice McAlexander, from Abilene, Tx., motivated about 50 volunteers who were sitting in the stadium seats and waiting to get to work. Standing in front of them on the roof of a dugout, she gave the Obama campaign’s well-known cheer.

“Fired up?” she said through a megaphone.

“Ready to go” responded the volunteers, who hailed from as far away as Florida and California.

She then taught the crowd the “Obama dance,” a Macarena-esque move to get people excited — and warmed up in the cold weather.

Ms. McAlexander, who worked for the Obama...

Thanks to a $24,000 from the McCormick Foundation, 24 elementary students from one of Chicago’s poorest neighborhoods are traveling to Washington to see the historical inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama and take in the sights.

The so-called DC 24 are 5th and 6th graders from Frazier Preparatory Academy and they will spend four days in the nation’s capital, visiting museums, Arlington National Cemetery, and even attending an inaugural ball.

The students, who were selected last summer for their good grades and other criteria, have been taking special classes on civics and government to prepare for the trip. (They even made flashcards to memorize the positions and names of members of the incoming administration).

In addition to helping pay for the trip, the McCormick Foundation, whose headquarters are in Chicago, is providing the kids with laptop computers and digital...

Should Congress require foundations to disclose information about how much of their giving supports the poor and minorities?

During the Philanthropy Roundtable’s meeting, two nonprofit leaders clashed over this question.

Aaron Dorfman, executive director of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, a foundation-watchdog group in Washington, argued that new regulations are needed to improve philanthropy.

Calling foundations “some of the most loosely regulated organizations” in the country, Mr. Dorfman said federal lawmakers should tighten rules to prevent foundations from financially benefiting their founders or their family members and improve oversight by the Internal Revenue Service.

In addition, he said charitable funds should be required to publicly say what their governance policies are and share demographic data about what populations their grants are...

During the Philanthropy Roundtable’s annual meeting, Thomas W. Luce, a former assistant secretary of education under President Bush, said that philanthropy too often starts new programs to benefit schools, but needs to instead focus on growing education efforts that have already been proven to work.

“We have lit enough pilots that we ought to have a furnace somewhere,” he said. But “everybody likes to seize upon a new idea.”

Mr. Luce is now chief executive of the National Math and Science Initiative, in Dallas, which is working with states and nonprofit groups to expand nationwide public education projects that have demonstrated success locally. The organization has received support from the ExxonMobil oil company, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation.

“We don’t want to be the innovator,” he said about his group, but instead generate “...

Philanthropists should do more to support American families, which are threatened by social problems like absentee fathers and out-of-wedlock births, Robert P. George, a law professor at Princeton University, told the participants at the Philanthropy Roundtable’s annual meeting.

Mr. George, who is a trustee of the Lynde and Harry Bradley Foundation, a conservative grant maker in Milwaukee, said government programs can not be a substitute for parents. “A family is the best department of health, education, and welfare,” he said.

He said he is concerned that more couples treat marriage as an “optional lifestyle choice.” “In the absence of a strong, flourishing marriage culture, families fail to form or when they do form they are often unstable,” he said.

The decline of the so-called traditional family structure has far-reaching consequences, he said. “The preservation of liberty ...

The leader of the Philanthropy Roundtable, an organization that represents conservative donors, kicked off the association’s annual meeting in Naples, Fla., today by describing the election of Barack Obama to the White House as a “momentous” occasion for the United States.

The fact that a black American son of a Kenyan farmer could rise to the highest office in the land “is an inspiring and quintessentially American story,” Philanthropy Roundtable President Adam Myerson told the 400 or so philanthropists and foundation leaders at the event.

But he also cautioned that Mr. Obama would likely propose policies that would expand government activities and services. “That is not our approach at the Philanthropy Roundtable,” he said.

The association does not oppose all public programs to, say, help the poor or improve education, but is concerned that some of them hurt volunteerism and “...

Bill Clinton ended his annual philanthropy conference by saying this year’s event triggered 250 commitments estimated to be worth $8-billion. These commitments can be in the form of donations, business investments, volunteer time, and other work.

As part of this total, he announced a $100-million commitment to rebuild Haiti, which was devastated by several hurricances recently. Saying he has a special place in his heart for the island nation, where he spent his honeymoon, Mr. Clinton called on stage the president of Haiti to thank almost a dozen people who are part of the effort.

The promises include distributing shoes to children and providing seeds and agricultural training to farmers.

Mr. Clinton said the Haitian project came together very quickly, pointing out that the actors Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt called him this morning to pledge to pay for the rebuilding of 12...

During the last session of the Clinton Global Initiative, Gordon Brown, the prime minister of the United Kingdom, said the current financial crisis facing America can be an opportunity to improve the worldwide economy.

He said the problem can be a chance “to build a truly global society,” one which provides new jobs in the United States to replace the work that is being sent overseas and allows for resources, such as energy and food, to be cultivated and spread more evenly.

If the inequality between the rich and poor continues to grow, he said, so will tensions between them. Impoverished people will start asking more frequently, “Why can I not have some benefit from globalization that is happening around the world?”

While he said he understood the concerns of the anti-globalization movement, he said that the increasing connectedness of the world is inevitable.

As an example,...

A panel at the Clinton Global Initiative on philanthropy in rural areas sparked a broader discussion — and complaints — about charitable giving.

The discussion’s moderator, Steve Gunderson, president of the Council on Foundations, struggled to keep the speakers focused on the main topic when one of them, Wangari Muta Maathai, said that not enough is done to help Africans lift themselves out of poverty.

“You have to help these people rise up and walk,” said Ms. Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, a charity in Kenya.

Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church, which does antipoverty work in Rwanda and elsewhere, agreed. “So much of what we do in philanthropic development robs people of dignity, removes initiative, destroys their own economy. It’s actually counterproductive,” he said.

Good giving works like an injection of yeast into dough — a relatively small...