Florida's governor signed legislation last week aimed at curtailing how much state and local governments can do to regulate foundations and their diversity practices.

Drafted with help from the Alliance for Charitable Reform, the law prohibits Florida government officials from requiring that foundations disclose the race, religion, gender, income level, sexual orientation, or certain other characteristics of their employees and board members, as well as those of their grant recipients.

The new law also bars state and local government officials from requiring that private foundations appoint board members based on such characteristics and preventing them from selecting trustees who are family members. 

In addition to introducing restrictions on how government officials might regulate foundation governance, the law prohibits governments from forcing foundations to give money to groups a...

The Humane Society of the United States and Mothers Against Drunk Driving filed an ethics complaint last week charging the American Beverage Institute, a group that represents restaurants, of engaging in illegal lobbying.

The beverage group is led by Richard Berman, a Washington lobbyist who oversees several nonprofit organizations that have attacked charities including the Humane Society and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. (See this Chronicle article on an anti-Humane Society advertising campaign conducted by the Center for Consumer Freedom, which is run by Mr. Berman).

The two charities registered a complaint with the New York State Commission on Public Integrity, saying that the American Beverage Institute violated the state's lobbying law in 2008 when it ran advertisements in The New York Times and New York Post without being registered in New York as a lobbyist. State law requires ...

More than 30 nonprofit organizations wrote to President Obama today urging him to ease antiterrorism restrictions that the groups say hinder legitimate charitable giving and aid work abroad.

The organizations -- which include American Jewish World Service, the Charity and Security Network, and the Muslim Public Affairs Council -- reminded Mr. Obama of a statement he made last June in Cairo in which he said that some charitable rules have made giving difficult for American Muslims and that he would work with them to help fulfill their religious obligation to donate.

"While the speech was in the context of U.S. relations with the Muslim world, the problems you cited adversely impact all kinds of charities, humanitarian aid groups, grant makers, and donors," the organizations wrote.

Among the problems they cited: harassment of donors by law-enforcement officials; absence of clear...

The Supreme Court heard arguments this morning in a case challenging the constitutionality of a law that international human-rights and humanitarian-aid charities say stifles their speech and advocacy work.

The charities take issue with the U.S. government making it a crime to provide "material support" to groups deemed "foreign terrorist organizations." In the case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, the charities say the definition of material support -- which includes services, training, expert advice, or personnel -- is too broad and could criminalize their work to promote reconciliation among warring groups and provide aid in parts of the world controlled by terrorist organizations.

Under a law dating back to 1996 and revised under the Patriot Act, individuals face up to 15 years in prison for providing material support to terrorist groups, even if that work is legal and has...

Philanthropy’s top political story of 2009? If this blog is any indication, then the new White House Office of Social Innovation dominated the nonprofit world’s political chatter this year.

Even though Sonal Shah was thought to be a shoe-in to lead the fund months before her selection was confirmed by the Obama administration in April, an article about her appointment got more attention than any other article on The Chronicle‘s Government and Politics blog.

A January article discussing speculation about the then-amorphous office, which is devoted to identifying and supporting innovative nonprofit groups, and a July article in which the Obama administration finally revealed some details about when the Office of Social Innovation might provide grants were the second- and third-most popular posts.

An article discussing the National Council of Nonprofits’s examination of how the ...

The Carter Center, Human Rights Watch, the International Crisis Group, and other top international charities are supporting a challenge to the constitutionality of a controversial “material support” law designed to cut down on the flow of money and aid to terrorist groups.

The American Civil Liberties Union filed a “friend of the court” brief today in a case before the Supreme Court in behalf of the nine charities, which say the law is overly vague and could restrict even speech and advocacy done with the goal of combating terrorism. The law makes it a crime to provide “material support or resources” to any group that the U.S. government has designated a terrorist organization.

The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear a one-hour oral argument in the case, Holder v. Humanitarian Law Project, this winter. A decision is expected by June, according to the Charity and Security Network....

Rajiv J. Shah, a former official with the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who currently works at the U.S. Department of Agriculture, has been nominated to head the U.S. Agency for International Development.

The nomination comes as a relief to some aid groups, which have assailed the Obama administration for leaving the post vacant for nearly a year.

Mr. Shah could face a relatively smooth vetting process, as he has already been confirmed once this year by the Senate for his current job as under secretary for research, education, and economics.

Before joining the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Mr. Shah served as director of agricultural development with the Gates Foundation. Previously, he was the foundation’s director of strategic opportunities and deputy director of policy and finance for global health. In these roles, he helped create an immunization program that raised...

Alan Khazei, co-founder of the nonprofit group City Year and a prominent advocate of national service, announced yesterday that he has raised more than $1-million in his bid to succeed the late Mass. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy.

Only one other candidate,Martha Coakley, the state’s attorney general, has raised more, according to The Boston Globe. Ms. Coakley has received more than $2-million.

Mr. Khazei raised the money in about two weeks thanks to a group of supporters who gave $5,000 each, says The Globe. He has also raised significant sums through house parties and online giving.

The fund-raising success establishes Mr. Khazei, less well-known than some of his rivals, as a competitive candidate, The Globe and other newspapers said.

The special election to replace Sen. Kennedy takes place on December. 8.

International charities are calling for the prompt passage of a bill to revamp foreign aid that was introduced in the Senate last week.

The bill, the Foreign Assistance Revitalization and Accountability Act of 2009, was introduced by a bipartisan group of senators including John Kerry, chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Richard Lugar, the ranking member.

It is aimed at improving how the U.S. Agency for International Development provides assistance abroad. The legislation is similar to a bill in the House introduced by Rep. Howard Berman, chair of the House Foreign Relations Committee.

“Revitalizing U.S. aid is crucial to the overall reform of U.S. foreign assistance,” said David Beckmann, president of the nonprofit Bread for the World, in a statement. “If the Obama administration and Congress improve the effectiveness of U.S. foreign assistance, our dollars...

Overwhelmed by the growing humanitarian emergency in Pakistan, aid organizations are calling on Congress to allocate more money for the nearly 3 million people who’ve fled a military offensive against the Taliban.

In a letter to members of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Samuel A. Worthington, president of the umbrella organization InterAction, said aid workers are stretched thin trying to assist people who are arriving at a rate of nearly 126,000 per day. Money and supplies have been slow to arrive in the region, he said.

Mr. Worthington urged the government to spend an additional $150-million through the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance and approve a Senate provision providing $345-million to the State Department’s Bureau of Population, Refugees, and Migration.

In addition, he said, the State Department — not the Department...