Editor's Note: This story is part of an ongoing series.

Groups that plan to apply for federal money to help create “Promise Neighborhoods” to fight poverty will have to demonstrate “an unusual degree of discipline and clarity” to make the projects succeed, a new report by the Bridgespan Group says.

The Education Department’s Office of Innovation and Improvement will award one-year planning grants in 2010 to nonprofit groups in 20 cities that want to create Promise Neighborhoods — that is, projects modeled after Harlem Children’s Zone, which provides a comprehensive set of services in a specific area to poor children from birth through college.

Drawing on its experience working with antipoverty groups, Bridgespan — a nonprofit consulting group — predicts that policy makers working on such projects will be pressured to base crucial decisions on political considerations rather than on...

President Obama’s proposal to limit tax breaks for charitable gifts and other itemized deductions to help pay for a health-care overhaul has so far gone nowhere in Congress.

But Senate Republicans fear the stake has not been driven completely through the proposal’s heart. “Please join us in protecting the full value of the charitable deduction by opposing any amendments to the health-care reform bill that impose a cap on itemized deductions,” 30 senators wrote in a letter last week to their Senate colleagues.

Sen. John Thune, of South Dakota, led the effort, saying in a statement that “the American tradition of charitable giving is particularly important in difficult economic times.”

Several Senate Finance Committee members in September proposed adding caps on the value of itemized deductions to their committee’s health-care bill. But that idea did not make it into the committee’...

Alan Khazei, the nonprofit leader who is hoping to succeed Edward M. Kennedy as a Democratic senator from Massachusetts, is highlighting his national-service work in two new advertisements.

Both spots, one produced for television and the other for the Internet, applaud his work building City Year, the youth service corps, and fighting for the Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, a bill signed into law last April that will expand the country’s national-service programs.

“He led a movement to help craft and pass national legislation all from his office as citizen,” says the Internet ad. “Imagine what he could do in the Senate.”

“I’ve always believed one person has the power to change things,” Mr. Khazei says in the television commercial. “So I started City Year and we created 15,000 jobs teaching kids, rebuilding communities.”

Mr. Khazei took a leave of absence from his post...

More than 40 members of Congress have signed a letter asking House leaders to ensure that the final health-care-overhaul bill offers relief to small charities that provide health insurance to their employees.

“For health-care reform to be truly comprehensive, it must include nonprofit employers and their employees,” says the letter, which Rep. Betty McCollum, Democrat of Minnesota, took the lead on.

The letter highlights the importance of the nonprofit workforce to the economy, and notes that current House proposals offer tax credits to help small for-profit employers offer insurance plans. (The credits would apply to income taxes, which charities do not pay.)

On the other hand, both Senate health-care bills, now in the process of being merged, provide help to nonprofit employers. The finance committee bill would provide credits for certain payroll taxes to charities with no more than...

The Corporation for National and Community Service plans to issue final guidelines by the end of the year for groups that plan to apply for grants from the new Social Innovation Fund, with the first awards likely to take place in late spring or summer, corporation officials said today.

Congress has not yet adopted a budget for the 2010 fiscal year, which began October 1. However, while waiting for the official allocation, the corporation “can and expects to move forward” with the guidelines, or “notice of funding opportunity,” said Marta Urquilla, senior adviser for social innovation.

President Obama proposed $50-million for the fund, which will provide grants to help nonprofit groups expand promising programs to tackle pressing national social problems. The Senate Appropriations Committee approved that amount, but the House voted to cut it to $35-million. The full Senate has not...

National-service advocates are campaigning to persuade Congress to approve a bill to exclude from income tax the education grant that AmeriCorps members earn after completing their service.

The Segal AmeriCorps Education Award Tax Relief Act, H.R. 1596, was introduced by Rep. John Lewis, Democrat of Georgia, and is now before the House Ways and Means Committee.

Unlike other federal education grants, such as Pell Grants and G.I. Bill aid, the AmeriCorps award — which rose to $5,375 on October 1 — is now treated as gross income for income-tax purposes.

AmeriCorps Alums and Voices for National Service are asking supporters to sign a letter to the Ways and Means Committee or to contact their Congressional representatives.

The Corporation for National and Community Service plans to hold a conference call next week to answer questions about the Social Innovation Fund, the new federal program that will provide millions of dollars to help nonprofit groups start or expand promising social projects.

The call will take place from 1 p.m. to 2 p.m. Eastern time on Thursday, October 15. Information about how to participate is available on the corporation’s Web site.

The corporation and the White House Office of Social Innovation and Civic Participation have conducted more than 50 meetings with nonprofit groups, foundations, evaluation experts, academics, and others about how to design the fund, Nicola Goren, the corporation’s acting chief executive, writes today on the White House blog.

They have also conducted five listening sessions around the country and plan to hold several more during the next several ...

Sen. Charles E. Grassley, the senior Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, did not pursue votes on two amendments that he proposed to the committee’s health-care bill affecting executive compensation and governance at charities.

But he inserted comments on them into the record and reserves the right to propose the language later, either as part of the health-care bill or to another piece of legislation, said Jill Gerber, his press secretary.

The finance committee completed work early this morning on amendments to the bill drafted by Sen. Max Baucus, the Montana Democrat who chairs the committee, and is expected to take a final vote next week.

Sen. Grassley, Republican of Iowa, proposed eliminating a “safe harbor” provision in IRS rules that allows executive compensation at charities to be deemed reasonable if the group follows certain steps. It would also require certain...

The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities has taken issue with a coalition of nonprofit leaders that criticized a Congressional proposal to cap the tax breaks for charitable donations at 35 percent as a way to help pay for a health-care overhaul.

“The letter claims that limiting the value of the deduction for charitable congtributions would create a disincentive for affluent individuals to donate,” Robert Greenstein, executive director of the liberal think tank, says in a new report. “This ignores the fact that the proposal would merely keep the incentive for high-income people to donate where it is today.”

President Obama has proposed letting tax cuts enacted during the Bush Administration expire in 2011, which would raise the top tax rates to 36 percent and 39.6 percent — up from today’s 33 percent and 35 percent. He also proposed capping the tax breaks for itemized deductions at...

The city of New York announced today it was starting five projects to strengthen local arts and cultural groups, offering grants, training, and free exhibit and performance space.

The projects — part of the city’s Five Borough Economic Opportunity Plan — were announced by Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg; Seth W. Pinsky, president of the New York City Economic Development Corporation; and Kate D. Levin, cultural affairs commissioner.

“Our cultural institutions and artists contribute to a creative spirit unmatched anywhere else, and we recognize how important it is to do everything we can to make sure they continue to flourish,” Mayor Bloomberg said in a statement.

The five projects are:

• Curate New York City, which will provide free exhibit space to visual artists at city-owned properties.

• New York City Performs, which will offer free outdoor space for public performances.