Items relevant to more than one category may appear more than once in this summary. From the issue dated June 29, 2006 About Fund Raising AMERICANS GAVE $260.3-BILLION to charity last year, approaching the record for giving at the height of the technology boom in 2000, Giving USA reports. GIFTS TO SOCIAL-SERVICE GROUPS rose 28 percent in 2005, while donations to arts organizations fell 6.6 percent: a summary of fund raising by various types of charities. UPDATE ON CAMPAIGNS for endowments, capital improvements, and other needs. INTEREST RATES for planned gifts, issued by the Internal Revenue Service. About Grant Makers BILL GATES'S ANNOUNCEMENT that he will relinquish day-to-day leadership of Microsoft to turn his attention to philanthropy has generated great anticipation in the nonprofit world. ADVICE FOR BILL GATES: Nonprofit experts offer recommendations on what the philanthropist should do when he devotes his full energies to his foundation. GRANT MAKERS ARE UNHAPPY about a bill in the Michigan Legislature, aimed at the Ford Foundation, that would require philanthropies founded in the state to distribute half their grants to Michigan charities. RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers. About Gifts and Giving WIKIPEDIA, the online reference tool sponsored by the nonprofit Wikimedia Foundation, may be the world's biggest, most democratic encyclopedia, but is it reliable? CHARITIES WRITTEN UP IN WIKIPEDIA like the notice it brings, but have learned to keep a close watch on their entries. PLANS FOR A NEW GLOBAL-HEALTH INSTITUTE at Harvard University have stalled because the university has yet to receive a promised $115-million for the project from Lawrence J. Ellison, chief executive of the Oracle software company. A DENVER BUSINESSMAN has given $150-million to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) to help reinvigorate the struggling denomination. RICE UNIVERSITY has received a pledge of $32-million from two alumni; other recent gifts to nonprofit groups and institutions. THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: A group of women in commercial real estate are helping young girls explore careers in construction and finance. About Managing Nonprofit Groups WORKING IN DARFUR, SUDAN, where warfare has dragged on for three years, presents challenges to international aid groups that even hurricanes and earthquakes can't equal. RAISING MONEY FOR RELIEF EFFORTS in Darfur has been hampered by the duration of the conflict and the failure of governments to maintain the level of their contributions. MOVED BY REPORTS FROM SUDAN, a recent Swarthmore graduate has started a charity that hopes not only to help the people there but also to work for an end to all genocide. A GRASS-ROOTS ADVOCACY NETWORK at the Children's Hospital, in Denver, has been so successful in influencing public policy that other hospitals want to copy it. TURF BATTLES between the American Red Cross and the Federal Emergency Management Agency hampered last year's hurricane-relief efforts, and are still not completely settled, says a new report. NEARLY THREE IN 10 ADULTS volunteered some of their time to charity last year, a federal survey reveals. LEGISLATION IN CONGRESS to further restrict U.S. aid to charities working in the West Bank and Gaza could force some charities to cease operating in the region. FOUNDATION INVESTMENTS outperformed the major equity indexes last year, gaining 8.1 percent, according to a survey by the Commonfund Institute. MORE THAN A MILLION CHARITIES and foundations are now registered with the federal government, according to figures released by the Internal Revenue Service. LEARNING TO ASK FOR MONEY was the key lesson Keith Wolter took from his early career as a financial adviser to his new job as head of the Maui AIDS Foundation (Entry Level). IN AN ERA OF UNPARALLELED TENSION between the American and Arab worlds, Nidal Ibrahim, the new head of the Arab American Institute, has his work cut out for him (New on the Job). NONPROFIT HOSPITALS are the subject of an investigation by the Internal Revenue Service into whether they do enough to warrant their tax-exempt status (Tax Watch). A KEY MEMBER OF CONGRESS has asked the Smithsonian Institution's inspector general to look into executive pay and benefits at the museum (Tax Watch). THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE has raised the price of applying for tax-exempt status (Tax Watch). REPORTS ON CHARITIES by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance. About Technology "NET NEUTRALITY," the principle that all Internet traffic should be treated equally, is an issue nonprofit organizations and grant makers need to take seriously, participants in a recent teleconference were warned. A MASSACHUSETTS COMPANY that analyzes direct-mail fund-raising data for charities will extend its service to online giving. TECHNOLOGY BITS: A meeting explores innovations in "community technology," and a nonprofit technology coalition has a new leader. FOOD FORCE, a pioneer in the genre of serious gaming, is a video game created by the U.N. World Food Programme to teach kids about fighting global hunger. Also in This Issue OPINION: Leslie Lenkowsky suggests a model for Bill Gates to follow as he shifts his focus to philanthropy; Pablo Eisenberg wonders whether anyone really has the will to tackle problems of accountability and ethics in the nonprofit world; and Howard Husock questions the premise of "social enterprise." LETTERS: on whether charities ought to go on strike and how arts and cultural activities should be financed. BOOKS: A guide to help foundations improve their own programs and those of their grantees and a handbook on fund-raising basics, plus summaries of other publications on disparities between the rich and the poor in the United States, on conflict-of-interest laws, and on effective presentations. PRESS CLIPPINGS:: Business Week tracks the Gates Foundation's success in education grant making; The Nation explores a controversy at the Ford Foundation; Town & Country takes its annual look at "the power of philanthropy," Angelina Jolie discusses her giving in Forbes, and New York magazine examines the recovery of the Public Theater, in Manhattan. PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world. AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy.