Ginger Dosedel created Sew Much Comfort, a charity that distributes clothing adapted for the needs of soldiers recovering from injuries.

Darren Parker, for The Chronicle

Mart Green and his family committed $70-million to Oral Roberts University.

Milton Morris, for The Chronicle

Marc E. Chardon, chief executive of Blackbaud, says his nonprofit clients expect software companies to understand how donors are cultivated.

From the issue dated March 20, 2008 About Gifts and Giving A $70-MILLION DONATION has given troubled Oral Roberts University a new lease on life, but the gift came with some serious conditions. CORPORATE EXECUTIVES who give gifts of stock to their family foundations often manipulate or falsify the timing of the gifts to gain maximum tax advantage, says a report by a New York University professor. AMERICANS ARE VOLUNTEERING in greater numbers, a new study suggests. THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY, kicking off a $1-billion fund-raising drive, has received a pledge of $100-million from the New York financier Stephen A. Schwarzman. RECENT GIFTS to nonprofit organizations and institutions. DEDUCTIONS FOR CHARITABLE CONTRIBUTIONS rose more than 10 percent from 2004 to 2005, the Internal Revenue Service reported (Tax Watch). THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: The Rolex watchmaking company's Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative pairs some of the most notable names in dance, literature, music, film, visual arts, and theater with talented newcomers. SUMMARIES OF ANNUAL REPORTS from the California Wellness, Columbus, and Meadows Foundations. About Fund Raising MERGERS AND BUYOUTS in the fund-raising software industry have left some charities in the lurch, with programs that are no longer supported, and could hurt many others if consolidation cuts into competition. BLACKBAUD'S POSITION as the largest supplier of fund-raising software in the business has been solidified by a recent string of buyouts that brought its customer base up to some 19,000 charities. SALESFORCE.COM, a leading provider of corporate software, has begun offering its product free or at low cost to charities, a move potentially unsettling to the nonprofit market. CHIEF UNIVERSITY FUND RAISERS saw their salaries go up 4 percent last year, to a median of nearly $132,000, according to a new survey. PLANNED PARENTHOOD is intensifying its training of employees in how to handle offensive phone calls after an apparently incriminating recorded conversation was made public on YouTube. A PART-TIME FUND-RAISING GIG to earn a little extra money taught the college-student son of Bob Levey, a Chronicle columnist, an important rule of the trade: It's all about relationships. INTEREST RATES for planned gifts, issued by the Internal Revenue Service. About Charities and the Iraq War MILITARY AND VETERANS CHARITIES have flourished in the years since the invasion of Iraq, and many new ones have sprung up, but leaders say they are still not meeting all the needs. DESIRE TO HELP THE TROOPS has fueled a host of grass-roots charitable efforts, many of which have grown larger and gone on longer than their originators ever anticipated. THE PROBLEMS OF VETERANS will linger long after the end of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, and nonprofit leaders say charitable organizations will be expected to meet the needs that the federal government is unable to. Among the chief concerns: health and housing. SCRUTINY OF MILITARY CHARITIES in the wake of a blistering report on the financial practices of 26 such groups has left many organizations scrambling to overcome public skepticism. About Managing Nonprofit Groups THE TURMOIL IN THE CREDIT MARKET has begun to touch some large nonprofit institutions faced with rising interest rates on the auction-rate bonds they used to finance long-term projects. MANY TAX-EXEMPT GROUPS will have to list the salaries of many more employees on the Form 990 if the Internal Revenue Service carries through its plan to change the definition of "key employee" (Tax Watch). BUSINESS AND CHARITY LEADERS at the Social Enterprise Alliance's annual conference discussed the search for new legal structures for enterprises that blend nonprofit and for-profit activities. MOST OF THE INCOME charities earn from business activities comes from selling products, services, and advertising, according to an analysis by the Internal Revenue Service (Tax Watch). WHEN HER BUSINESS CLOSED, Kathleen Davies decided to reinvent herself as a naturalist, learning new skills that built on her childhood passion for nature and wildlife. HAVING SUDDENLY LOST ITS PRESIDENT, the Charles H. Revson Foundation found a new leader in Julie A. Sandorf, who started two thriving charities and is good at the "putting-deals-together stuff" (New on the Job). BOOKS: A guide to fighting poverty, a handbook to help charities stave off financial instability, plus summaries of other publications on fostering good discussion at board meetings, how foundations can become more strategic and effective, and common-sense advice on leading a nonprofit organization. About Grant Makers GOLDMAN SACHS will spend $100-million and team up with 16 universities around the world in an effort that hopes to teach business skills to 10,000 women in developing countries. SEVENTEEN PROJECTS that explore new ways to use technology in learning have received the first round of grants from the MacArthur Foundation's Digital Media and Learning Competition. THE MITTE FOUNDATION, a Texas grant maker known for supporting scholarships for undergraduate business students, has informed a handful of universities it cannot pay for the scholarships to which it had committed. NEWLY ANNOUNCED grant programs. RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers. Also in This Issue OPINION: J.H. Snider on how to prevent the plagiarism of public-policy ideas. LETTERS: on the social value of foundations, philanthropy and the nursing shortage, a columnist's stereotypical view of donors, how to be a successful fund raiser, and two studies of corporate charity. PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world. AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy. PRESS CLIPPINGS: Fortune examines the planet's hottest charity, and The New York Times Magazine covers the world of philanthropy.