Harper’s Magazine has taken a look at the giving by Sen. John McCain’s foundation and writes it has primarily given money to private schools his children have attended.

In the article by Ken Silverstein, he writes that from 2001 to 2006, the foundation awarded $1.6-million, with $500,000 going to Xavier College Preparatory and other “elite” schools the couple’s four children attended.

“There’s nothing illegal or improper about the foundation’s contributions,” writes Mr. Silverstein, “but it’s not exactly the pattern of giving you’d expect from someone who has cultivated an anti-elitist image.”

A spokesman for Mr. McCain told Mr. Silverstein that the giving simply reflected the couple’s charitable interests.

“These are schools that did great things for the McCains’ kids and they felt it was appropriate to support them,” the spokesperson said.

According to its most recent 9...

The Senate Finance Committee is turning up the heat on three Christian ministries that so far have refused or failed to respond to its investigation of so-called prosperity gospel churches.

On Tuesday, the committee’s co-chairmen — Sen. Max Baucus, a Democrat from Montana, and Sen. Charles Grassley, a Republican from Iowa – sent letters to the groups urging them to cooperate with the inquiry, which is looking into questionable salaries and fund-raising practices at a half-dozen churches.

Mr. Grassley started the examination in November when he asked the ministries turn over financial data by the end of this month.

The letters indicate that Mr. Baucus is now joining the inquiry, which gives it more power. As chairman of the committee, Mr. Baucus may issue subpoenas to the uncooperative groups.

“To date, you and/or your legal counsel have not provided the requested information...

A new study by the IRS shows that much of the money charities earn from business activities comes from selling products, services, and advertising.

Charities in 2004 — the latest date for which statistics are available — reported that 74 percent of their $5.5-billion in total business income not related to their charitable missions stemmed from their profits on those three types of pursuits.

Nearly 17 percent of the total “unrelated-business income” reported by charities stemmed from capital gain net income, partnership and S corporation income, and debt-financed income, the report said.

The IRS said that while these categories of investment income “comprised a relatively small proportion” of charities’ total unrelated-business income, “the total amount of these items rose 73 percent between 2003 and 2004.”

The IRS published the data — which are derived from Form 990-T tax...

As President Bush tours Africa to tout his efforts to fight deadly diseases, several Christian advocacy groups are fighting possible changes to his AIDS program.

According to the Religion News Service, Concerned Women for America, the Family Research Council, and others object to Democratic lawmakers’ efforts to remove rules that steer part of federal AIDS funds to abstinence education and that require charities to sign a pledge to fight prostitution to receive government grants.

The changes are part of legislation to renew the program, the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or Pepfar. The House Foreign Affairs Committee is expected to debate the bill soon.

The antiprostitution clause has been a divisive issue among international-aid groups. Some, like the Salvation Army, support it, while DKT International and other charities have sued the federal government, arguing ...

In rousing style, the televangelist Kenneth Copeland has pledged to fight efforts by Sen. Charles E. Grassley, an Iowa Republican, to make his Christian ministry’s finances public, reports Roll Call, a Washington political newspaper.

In November, Mr. Grassley, who is the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, sent letters to Kenneth Copeland Ministries, in Newark, Texas, and five other television ministries to obtain their financial information.

During a closed-circuit broadcast last week to about 1,000 ministers and other guests, Roll Call reports that Mr. Copeland said he would vigorously resist the request.

“You render unto the government what belongs to the government. And you render unto God what belongs to God,” he said, according to the newspaper. “You can go get a subpoena, and I won’t give it to you,” Mr. Copeland continues. “It’s not yours, it’s God’s and ...

As Congress prepares this year to extend President Bush’s multibillion-dollar global HIV/AIDS program, international aid groups are asking lawmakers to scrap several provisions of the program that they say hinder their work.

The five-year, $15-billion program — known as the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or Pepfar — has been praised for significantly increasing U.S. government spending on the HIV epidemic overseas. But two requirements of the program have sparked particular criticism from some AIDS practitioners.

A stipulation that one-third of money for prevention programs be spent on teaching abstinence, even in areas where the disease is spread primarily by drug users or by people who have multiple sexual partners, has drawn fire.

Charities say there should be more flexibility on how money can be spent. “We think the evidence points to getting rid of the earmark an...

Gordon Brown, the British prime minister, is asking charities, churches, and corporations to do more to help the world’s poor.

Mr. Brown told The Guardian newspaper, that more needs to be done to meet the United Nations Millennium Development Goals by 2015. “2008 should be a development year and mark a call to action from everyone — not just rich and poor governments but civil society, faith groups, trade unions, and even the private sector,” he said.

The Millennium Development Goals are seven antipoverty and health goals, such as reducing by half the number of people who are suffering from hunger. Last week, Unicef released a report on the world’s progress toward meeting the goals, which were set in 2000.

According to the report, several strides have been made. But serious problems remain. For example, treatment of pneumonia and malaria, which together each year account for more ...

New York is attempting to change how it — and possibly the rest of America — defines poverty.

The formula that is commonly used to measure poverty and determines who has access to government health care and other services, has long been regarded as the social-science version of the Edsel — an idea that was flawed when it was created.

In New York, Mark Levitan, director of poverty research for the city’s Center for Economic Opportunity, is trying to rework the formula using recommendations from the National Academy of Sciences.

According to an interview with City Limits, an urban-affairs magazine in New York, Mr. Levitan said that the current way to measure poverty, which was created in the 1960s, focuses on whether a family can pay for basic needs, such as food, shelter, and clothes. But this fails to capture all of what people need, such as access to information.

“Now you may...

An antipoverty charity is calling on Congress to allocate more money on social programs to help poor Americans, despite politicians concerns about budget woes.

“Fiscal responsibility — the last refuge scoundrel lawmakers cling to — is an insult at a time when tax cuts for the wealthy and the fiasco in Iraq has sucked hundreds of billions of dollars out of the treasury,” writes Todd Post, editor of Bread for the World’s annual report on hunger, which was released last week.

On the Bread for the World Institutes’s blog, Mr. Post argues that the government should allow more poor people access to the Child Tax Credit and support efforts to help low-income families save money for education, start a small business, or buy a home.

Mr. Post also writes that the Washington-based charity’s new report, The 2008 Bread for the World Institute Hunger Report: Working Harder for Working Families,...

The Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani has promised to continue President Bush’s efforts to help Africa and other needy regions of the world, the One campaign, an antipoverty organization, reports on its blog.

During an appearance this month at Iowa State University, in Ames, Nora Tobin, president of One’s chapter at the university, asked Mr. Giuliani whether he would support the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. The eight goals include reducing global poverty by 50 percent and halting the spread of HIV/AIDS by 2015.

“I would work very hard to continue the programs that President Bush has supported and increasing them,” the former mayor of New York said. He also praised One’s charity efforts.

At least one supporter of the nonprofit group, however, calls Mr. Giuliani’s response lackluster. “I hope next time he’s asked he’ll have a real answer,” writes the...