Items relevant to more than one category may appear more than once in this summary. From the issue dated August 3, 2006 Special Report: About Musicians and Giving BIG-NAME MUSICAL PERFORMERS from the worlds of jazz, country, rock, and hip-hop are putting their fame and fortune to charitable uses, often to the benefit of the places where they live or grew up. THE JAZZ GREAT Wynton Marsalis, a native of New Orleans, has directed his philanthropic energy in the past year toward efforts to rebuild the Crescent City after Hurricane Katrina. CHARITIES founded by hip-hop artists, such as the Ludacris Foundation, which focuses its philanthropy on children, sometimes find their efforts hampered by negative perceptions of the music behind their money. WYCLEF JEAN, a Haitian hip-hop star, used his celebrity and a nonprofit group he started to open Port-au-Prince's toughest neighborhoods to a street-cleaning project that gives work to hundreds of poor islanders. THE CHILD of a father who could not read, Dolly Parton, through her Dollywood Foundation, began in 1996 to send books to children in the Tennessee county where she was born; the effort now reaches 42 states. A 58-YEAR-OLD ROCKER known for the shock theatrics of his performances, Alice Cooper is now starring in perhaps his most unexpected role, the founder and guiding spirit of a Christian charity in Phoenix. THE SUPPORT OF A FAMOUS MUSICIAN can lend a nonprofit group visibility, a gift nearly as precious as money but not without occasional problems. About Fund Raising THE GROWING HUMANITARIAN CRISIS in the Middle East has international aid organizations scrambling to raise money to help victims of the fighting, but some groups are seeing only a tepid response. INTEREST RATES for planned gifts, issued by the Internal Revenue Service. About Managing Nonprofit Groups THE HEAD of the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund resigned under pressure after members of one of the fund's advisory committees quit in protest over the way money was being distributed to churches. A FEDERAL APPEALS COURT RULING has dealt a serious blow to Internal Revenue Service efforts to curb abuses by individuals and companies that reap undue financial gains from association with a tax-exempt organization (Tax Watch). THE FOUNDER of a nonprofit provider of down-payment assistance is challenging the Internal Revenue Service's claim that he received excessive compensation from the group (Tax Watch). LEADERS AT THE G-8 SUMMIT in Russia disappointed nonprofit officials who had hoped for some protest of a law placing new restrictions on charities and foundations that operate there. HELPING EX-OFFENDERS back on their feet, a former prison guard gets them out on the street at 4 a.m., cleaning up a Baltimore neighborhood troubled by drugs and poverty (A Day in the Life). THE SECOND TIME AROUND feels both the same and different to Joseph M. Torsella, who takes over as leader of the National Constitution Center, having previously held the post for six years (New on the Job). REPORTS ON CHARITIES by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance. About Giving and Grant Makers WHEN FAMILY MEMBERS DISPERSE to far-flung locales, family foundations encounter a host of vexing problems. FOUR NONPROFIT ORGANIZATIONS have together been promised nearly $147-million from Robert W. Wilson, a retired hedge-fund manager, if the groups can match the gifts and meet certain other conditions. CHARITABLE DEDUCTIONS IN 2004 rose 7.2 percent over the previous year, according to preliminary statistics released by the Internal Revenue Service (Tax Watch). THE AMERICAN TECHNION SOCIETY has received a pledge of $25-million; other recent gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions. RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers. THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: Seacology, in Berkeley, Calif., helps preserve island ecosystems — and build local economies. Also in This Issue OPINION: Lester M. Salamon on charities' need for capital investment, and Thomas Peters on whether commercial funds should be eligible to join a foundation group. BOOKS: A guide to charity-corporate marketing ventures, an examination of federal policies to finance arts groups, one view of history's biggest philanthropic mistakes, and summaries of other publications on neighborhood development and on ways for nonprofit boards to attract publicity for the organizations they govern. PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world. AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy.