Items relevant to more than one category may appear more than once in this summary. From the issue dated January 25, 2007 About Gifts and Giving HEDGE FUNDS have created enormous wealth in recent years, and charities are rushing to court the managers who have become rich running them. ONE FUND MANAGER has set up a charity to help disabled children in developing countries, and uses a rock band he belongs to with others in the finance industry to raise money for it. A SMALL NUMBER OF GROUPS have sprung up specifically to tap the riches of hedge-fund and other financial managers for charitable purposes. NEWS SPREAD LAST WEEK that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had donated shares of stock worth more than $100-million and was planning to give most of his $800-million fortune to charity. ST. JOHN'S HEALTH CENTER, in Santa Monica, Calif., has been pledged $35-million largely for its expansion and capital campaign; other recent gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions. THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: The Christopher Reeve Foundation's Quality of Life program supports projects that help paralyzed people undertake activities they otherwise could not pursue. About Fund Raising A NEWSPAPER SUPPLEMENT published by the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and St. Paul brings in new donors and thousands of dollars each year for a children's hospital. LUNCHBOXES and jigsaw puzzles have yielded publicity and lots of peanut butter for America's Second Harvest and its network of food banks. BILLBOARD ADVERTISING, a financial stretch for most charities, is available to Twin Cities nonprofit groups, thanks to a local corporate grant maker. TWO BIG MERGERS involving companies that distribute fund-raising and other software to nonprofit groups continue the growing consolidation of the industry. HAVING FIRST-CLASS STAMPS CANCELED with a charity's logo is an easy, though not perfect, way for nonprofit organizations to get free publicity, compliments of the Postal Service. CELEBRITIES who promote nonprofit organizations and their causes do not help much in persuading donors to give, a new survey suggests. LETTING GO OF THE HIGH LIFE, Scott Harrison, a young New Yorker and former A-list event planner, started a charity to raise money for small aid groups in developing countries (Dispatches). UPDATE ON CAMPAIGNS for endowments, capital improvements, and other needs. INTEREST RATES for planned gifts, issued by the Internal Revenue Service. About Managing Nonprofit Groups WITH DEMOCRATS now in control of Congress, many charities are hoping their interests — and their requests for federal money — will find a friendlier reception on Capitol Hill. SCRUTINY OF TAX-EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS and calls for stiffer regulations could ease in the House, but the Senate is still planning action. MERCY CORPS, an international aid group in Portland, Ore., is merging with the New York-based NetAid, which works to promote activism among young people. EMBEZZLEMENT by employees and volunteers at Catholic dioceses and parishes is widespread, a Villanova University study indicates. COLLEGE TRUSTEES were the focus of a broad set of guidelines, aimed at improving accountability, that were issued last week by the Association of Governing Boards of Universities and Colleges. INDEPENDENT SECTOR has requested comment on a list of proposed principles to help charities and foundations. THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE has published guidelines for donors who make gifts directly to charity from their individual retirement accounts (Tax Watch). DEDUCTIONS FOR CHARITABLE DONATIONS grew more than 13 percent from 2003 to 2004, according to Internal Revenue Service statistics (Tax Watch). About Grant Makers OFFERING HUGE AWARDS for innovative solutions to social problems is a new approach to philanthropy for Tom Vander Ark, who just took over as president of the X Prize Foundation (New on the Job). SUMMARIES OF ANNUAL REPORTS from the Conrad N. Hilton, Henry Luce, and John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundations. RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers. REPORTS ON CHARITIES by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance. About Technology ONLINE SOCIAL NETWORKS like MySpace and Facebook help charities get the word out to the under-30 crowd. DIGITAL GAMES WITH A SOCIAL PURPOSE can be a useful marketing vehicle for nonprofit groups whose intended audience includes kids and gamers. TEXT MESSAGING via cellphone helped the Red Cross bring in donations for hurricane relief, but in general it is an expensive approach to fund raising. Also in This Issue OPINION: Jed Emerson and Mark Kramer on the proper way for foundations to handle their investments and Mark Rosenman on the cost to charities of the continuing war in Iraq. LETTERS: on the key importance of small foundations, and on the necessity of every foundation to be open and accountable. BOOKS: A guide to writing winning grant proposals, a handbook on fund-raising basics, a look at social-service programs run by religious congregations, and summaries of other publications on public-service careers and job-training programs. PRESS CLIPPINGS: Foreign Affairs questions philanthropy's focus on global health, and Worth looks at charities' efforts to stabilize their finances. PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world. AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy.