Deborah Bial founded the Posse Foundation to help colleges find a new way to identify bright students from low-income and minority families.

Roger Mastroianni, for The Chronicle

Bill Cushwa became a major supporter of Akron Children's Hospital after he spent a day shadowing doctors there.

Nancy Pierce, for The Chronicle

The Rev. Josh Sherfey, a North Carolina minister, says he hopes a new Duke Endowment grant program succeeds in fighting stress among clergy members.

From the issue dated November 29, 2007 About Gifts and Giving A "POSSE" OF PEERS and the help of mentors are keys to the Posse Foundation's program for helping kids from urban high schools get through college. LOOKING BEYOND ADMISSIONS, an increasing number of foundations are getting behind efforts to help poor and minority students graduate from college. RILEY CHILDREN'S FOUNDATION, in Indianapolis, received a pledge of $40-million; other recent gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions. THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: The Central American Solar Energy Project, in Charlottesville, Va., teaches women in Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua to build and cook with ovens heated by the sun. About Fund Raising AKRON CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL once a year invites local leaders to accompany doctors on their rounds, an experience that turns many of the visitors into loyal supporters. THE POSTAL SERVICE plans to tie future increases in postage for nonprofit mailings to the inflation rate. THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES has passed a bill that would extend a tax incentive that allows older donors to make charitable contributions from their retirement accounts (Tax Watch). 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 THE EMOTIONAL TOLL of charity work can be steep, prompting nonprofit groups to look for ways to help their employees cope with and prevent stress-related ailments. MEMBERS OF THE CLERGY are among the most stressed charity leaders, yet few foundations support efforts to help them with the difficulties of tending their flocks. SECONDARY TRAUMA, also known as "vicarious trauma," is one type of affliction that can strike nonprofit employees who work with troubled people. "YOU FEEL YOU'RE NOT ALL THERE": A therapist talks about the strains of working with children who suffered through Hurricane Katrina. NONPROFIT TRUSTEES are not doing enough to help with fund raising for their groups, according to a new BoardSource survey. A DELAWARE THINK TANK has dropped a lawsuit accusing a donor and three former officials of stealing proprietary information from the organization. THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT has frozen the U.S. assets of a Sri Lankan charity it accuses of supporting terrorism. THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE may begin taking steps to ensure the efficiency and effectiveness of tax-exempt organizations, an agency official suggested in a recent speech (Tax Watch). MORE THAN 300 LAWMAKERS have asked the IRS to ease up on reporting rules for nonprofit hospitals that are part of the newly revised Form 990 (Tax Watch). REPORTS ON CHARITIES by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance. About Technology CRITICAL COMMENTS ON A BLOG have led to the suspension of a trustee of the Southern Baptist International Mission Board. GLOBALGIVING, an online-donation site, has pledged to issue refund vouchers to any donors who are dissatisfied with their giving experience. AN ONLINE INTERACTIVE MAP under development by Colonial Williamsburg's Digital History Center will give users a new way to explore the 18th-century town. About Grant Makers THE FLINTRIDGE FOUNDATION, which is experiencing financial difficulties of its own, focuses on providing free management consulting to struggling charities. TO AUGMENT THEIR GRANT MAKING, many foundations are putting money into conferences, training, and other efforts to help charities, according to a Foundation Center report. TWO MAJOR GRANT MAKERS have named new chief executives. WARREN BUFFETT told a key Senate committee that he believes a law requiring foundations to pay out at least 5 percent of their assets each year keeps them from giving away more (Tax Watch). RECENT GRANTS worth more than $273-million awarded by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers. NEW GRANT PROGRAMS announced by foundations and other grant makers. Also in This Issue OPINION: Pablo Eisenberg doubts the wisdom of a foundation's decision to narrow its focus, and Alice O'Connor sees the need for research with a social purpose. LETTERS: questioning Independent Sector's governance principles and challenging a charity leader's remarks about poor people. PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world. AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy.