Items relevant to more than one category may appear more than once in this summary. From the issue dated February 22, 2007 About America's Top Donors EVEN WITHOUT WARREN BUFFETT'S MEGA-GIFT to the Gates Foundation, 2006 was a record-breaking year for philanthropic giving: The Chronicle's annual list of the 60 most-generous donors. HAVING TURNED A $3,000 STAKE into a multimillion-dollar oil company, Tim Marquez, with his wife, Bernadette, will spend a large portion of his wealth on college scholarships for poor students in Denver. LOVERS OF THE THEATER, Gilbert and Jaylee Mead have given millions to Washington arts groups, especially Arena Stage, helping to propel an arts renaissance in the nation's capital. A LARGE GIFT OF STOCK from Donna and Philip Berber established a charity, Glimmer of Hope, that works with local groups in Ethiopia to help alleviate poverty there. THE UNITED NATIONS FOUNDATION has found a mission and a method of operating that goes beyond giving away Ted Turner's billion-dollar pledge, still five years from completion. About Giving and Grant Making A $264-MILLION BEQUEST that a California couple intended to be split evenly among eight charities is being contested by one of the beneficiaries, the Salvation Army. DUKE UNIVERSITY RESEARCHERS have found a link between a certain type of brain activity and altruistic behavior. COMPLAINTS HAVE SURFACED among grant seekers about their treatment at the hands of the Omidyar Network, an organization established by the founder of eBay. A NAVY RESERVIST currently on active duty, Bonnie Jenkins, who in her other life is a program officer at the Ford Foundation, straddles the disparate worlds of philanthropy and military service. AN ANONYMOUS DONOR has given the Oregon Health & Science University $40-million to help build a new medical school; other recent gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions. RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers: a total of $860-million in new awards. THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: Team River Runner, a Rockville, Md., group, helps wounded soldiers recover from injuries by taking them on kayak rides designed to improve their coordination and endurance. About Fund Raising UPSET WITH CHANGES in the federal government's annual charity drive, some nonprofit coalitions are urging members of Congress to force a reversal of the controversial actions. OCCUPYING the first professorship in fund raising at Indiana University, Adrian Sargeant hopes to build a body of research people in the profession can use. Holding on to donors and trustees can be a struggle for charities. Among the ideas that have helped organizations overcome the problem: VISITING ARTISTS bring new benefits to symphony NONPROFIT LEADER wins over new trustees with private meetings HOMEMADE COOKIES help an advocacy charity cement relations with its top 100 contributors TRAVEL SCRAPBOOK is a memento that donors can share UNIVERSITY GENERATES both good will and gifts by reaching out to people who live near its campus 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 PRESIDENT BUSH'S proposed budget for 2008 would reduce spending for many programs of interest to charities and the people they serve, but it is unclear how his plan will fare in Congress. SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE INVESTING is likely to lead to poor returns for foundations and ultimately hurt the charities that grant makers mean to help, said an American Enterprise Institute scholar at a recent conference. THE NUMBER OF AMERICANS who volunteer fell last year to 61 million, the lowest level since the federal government began collecting statistics on volunteering in 2002. CHARITY WORKERS in the Washington area can expect their salaries to go up this year, according to a recent survey. THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE has proposed a set of nine principles covering charities' operations that it says would help ensure their accountability (Tax Watch). THE IRS is looking for feedback on whether it should create a program that would encourage nonprofit officials to come forward with reports of problems with their informational tax returns (Tax Watch). A WATCHDOG GROUP has asked the IRS to look into the possibility that a Minnesota church made improper loans to its pastor (Tax Watch). AFTER HAVING HER EYE ON THE JOB for 10 years, Diana Bell-McKoy got the position she wanted: the presidency of Associated Black Charities, in Baltimore (New on the Job). REPORTS ON CHARITIES by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance. About Technology A LEADERSHIP SHAKE-UP at Kintera, a San Diego company that markets software for nonprofit organizations, is believed to be a response to investors' anger over the company's losses. A NEW PRIZE to be awarded by the Association for Progressive Communications will honor an organization or individual whose work promotes the use of free or open-source software. TECHNOLOGY BITS A new guide to cell-phone advocacy, and an interactive map, shows donors how to find groups that work in Africa. Also in This Issue OPINION: Leslie Lenkowsky argues that foundations do not have to engage in socially responsible investing in order to do good with their money, and James Canales offers advice on how nonprofit executives and trustees can work effectively together. BOOKS: How businesses can help their communities, a global look at civil society, and an examination of how donors and nonprofit leaders accomplish social change, plus summaries of new publications on philanthropic accountability, social entrepreneurship, and a museum-loan effort. LETTERS on whether charity leaders should take a public stand on the Iraq war, and on how to gauge the return on foundations' investments. PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world. AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy.