The Top Donors of 2005

AMERICA'S MOST-GENEROUS DONORS were not as generous last year as the top givers were in 2004, The Chronicle's annual survey of giving has found.

BOONE PICKENS, the Texas billionaire, has come to enjoy giving money away almost as much as he likes making it.

OKLAHOMA STATE UNIVERSITY last year received from Mr. Pickens the biggest gift ever to a college athletics program, but not everyone on campus is happy about it.

A KNACK FOR INVENTING brought Robert Fischell great wealth, which he decided to share with the University of Maryland to help create a department of bioengineering.

IRA A. FULTON, who made a career out of building small businesses into hugely profitable enterprises, says he doesn't give money away, he invests it — especially in education.

HAVING FLED TO THE UNITED STATES from Communist Czechoslovakia, Jan and Marica Vilcek decided to focus their philanthropy on the achievements of immigrants.

About Gifts and Grant Makers

A BEQUEST OF AT LEAST $500-MILLION will make the Jim Joseph Foundation, in San Francisco, one of the largest in the country devoted to Jewish issues.

STANFORD UNIVERSITY has received a pledge of $30-million for an environmental institute; other recent gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions.

THE SENATE FINANCE COMMITTEE is looking into whether Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have put their charitable foundations to improper use (Tax Watch).

FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: Soaringwords, a charity in New York, provides blankets and pillows inscribed with comforting messages to children who have serious illnesses.

RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers.

SUMMARIES OF ANNUAL REPORTS from the Lloyd A. Fry, William and Flora Hewlett, and Minneapolis Foundations.

About Fund Raising

GIFTS TO COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES rose nearly 5 percent last year, totaling more than $25-billion, according to the Council for Aid to Education's annual survey.

THREE OF THE LARGEST CHARITIES providing assistance to Katrina victims have stopped soliciting donations for hurricane relief. Altogether, some $3.2-billion has been raised for the effort thus far.

THE GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY OFFICE is examining nonprofit groups that raise money through the annual federal charity drive to see if they have failed to pay taxes.

CHARITIES AND THEIR LOBBYISTS are working overtime as Congress moves closer to a decision on a tax measure of key significance to nonprofit groups (Tax Watch).

A GOLD MEDALIST'S GIFT of his Olympic bonus to a previously little-known charity has brought unprecedented publicity and new donations to a group that encourages athletics activities around the globe.

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

IN NEW ORLEANS, the charity workers who have returned to the crippled city struggle to put their own lives back in order as they help others do the same.

HAVING FLED THE HURRICANE with his wife, kids, and two pets, Gary Ostroske, the head of the local United Way, is back, living with his family in a rented home and working out of a moldy office building.

THE LATEST FEDERAL BUDGET proposed by President Bush would once again make significant cuts in programs many charities rely on to provide services.

THE HEAD of the J. Paul Getty Trust, Barry Munitz, has resigned his position, six months after the California attorney general initiated an investigation into the trust's finances.

PENALTIES IMPOSED by the New York attorney general on the World Jewish Congress for alleged financial improprieties are being criticized as too lenient.

RELIGIOUS GROUPS received an increasing number of federal grants, but a decreasing amount of federal money, from 2002 to 2004, according to a new study.

A CONGRESSIONAL REPORT lambasting the federal government's response to Hurricane Katrina also criticized charities' lack of preparedness for such a disaster.

THE PRESIDENT'S SPENDING PLAN contains several tax proposals that could affect the amount of money nonprofit groups attract in private donations.

THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE has released its annual list of most notorious tax scams, which this year includes the abuse of charitable deductions (Tax Watch).

AFTER 40 YEARS at the Education Development Center, 25 of them as its president, Janet Whitla will turn to writing about what it takes to be a leader (Exit Interview).

About Technology

A CHARITY'S E-MAIL COMMUNICATIONS with supporters tend to get a better response when they're sent at the end of the week, a new study suggests.

HEWLETT-PACKARD is accepting applications for its Technology for Community grant programs.

Also in This Issue

OPINION: Pablo Eisenberg sees few soup kitchens or homeless shelters among the beneficiaries of this country's biggest donors; Michael Lipsky and Dianne Stewart say government gets no respect, and nonprofit leaders and mainstream foundations are partly to blame.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR: on the proper role of philanthropy in the face of disaster, and on the best ways for foundations to improve education and fight poverty.

BOOKS: A look at the most-promising approaches to reducing poverty and a critique of foundation efforts to reshape elementary and secondary education, plus summaries of publications on programs to help children of prison inmates, careers in the nonprofit world, the key duties of charity chief executives, the condition of historic artifacts at the nation's museums, and Americans' views on global health.

PRESS CLIPPINGS: Pink traces Marty Evans's brief tenure as CEO of the Red Cross; The New Yorker details Alberto Vilar's disastrous turn as a philanthropist; and Moment examines the rush to endow professorships in Israeli studies.

PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world.

AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy.