Items relevant to more than one category may appear more than once in this summary. From the issue dated November 10, 2005 About Fund Raising DONATIONS TO HELP VICTIMS of the hurricanes have topped $2-billion, approaching the total given after September 11, 2001. Yet the Red Cross, for one, is spending relief funds faster than it can raise them. CONFIDENCE IN THE RED CROSS dipped after Hurricane Katrina, a survey has found; a second poll shows that two-thirds of Americans donated to hurricane relief. NONPROFIT OFFICIALS do not get how little donors care about policy debates affecting charities and how much they dislike certain kinds of fund-raising appeals, according to a new report from Public Agenda. A CAPITAL CAMPAIGN is an enormous undertaking, and a charity's first one is especially daunting. Tips from fund raisers who have been there. PROPOSED POSTAGE INCREASES could raise the cost of some nonprofit mailings by more than 12 percent. A SURVEY OF FUND RAISERS in New England found a significant gender gap in levels of compensation. 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 SALARY GAP between top executives and other employees at nonprofit groups is growing wider, a Chronicle analysis reveals. FORMAL COMPENSATION POLICIES are rare at charitable organizations; even rarer are policies linking the chief executive's pay to that of the rest of the staff. SEN. CHARLES E. GRASSLEY plans to add provisions to curb tax abuses involving charities to a tax bill now being drafted by the Senate Finance Committee (Tax Watch). THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE is moving to heighten enforcement of laws governing tax-exempt organizations (Tax Watch). MOST NONPROFIT BOARDS closely monitor practices at their organizations, calling into question Congressional proposals to tighten regulation of charities, says a report from the Johns Hopkins University. AMERICAN UNIVERSITY'S Board of Trustees is under investigation by the Senate Finance Committee over the severance package paid to the institution's recently fired president, Benjamin Ladner. THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES passed a bill that would bar charities that engage in any kind of political advocacy from receiving federal grants under a new housing fund. HAVING LEARNED SALES from her father, Mary Lee Hafley, director of a shelter for abused women, has realized she is really in the business of selling people on the importance of combating domestic violence (Entry Level). A STINT as an inner-city teacher gave Jerry Hauser the passion for social justice he brings to his new job as chief of the Advocacy Institute (New on the Job). REPORTS ON CHARITIES by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance. About Grant Makers WITH ITS SIGNATURE SURVEYS of foundation grantees, the Center for Effective Philanthropy gives grant makers a look at how their beneficiaries see them. TRUSTEES OF FOUNDATIONS have overhauled their practices in response to scrutiny by lawmakers, a new study has found. TO REMEMBER HUNTER S. THOMPSON, the gonzo journalist, who died in February, his friends and family are hatching plans for a foundation focused on two of his more respectable interests: literature and the law. RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers. SUMMARIES OF ANNUAL REPORTS from the Ahmanson Foundation, the Community Foundation Serving Richmond and Central Virginia, and the Richard King Mellon Foundation. About Gifts and Giving A PRESIDENTIAL ADVISORY COMMISSION has recommended significant changes in the way the federal tax code treats gifts to charity (Tax Watch). EFFORTS TO COMBAT MALARIA got a huge boost with more than $258-million in grants from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. A $100-MILLION GIFT from an anonymous source will allow the Yale School of Music to stop charging tuition. THE ARIZONA COMMUNITY FOUNDATION has received a $52-million bequest; other recent gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions. FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: The Legacy Project has collected more than 75,000 letters written home to families and friends from troops at war. Also in This Issue OPINION: Deborah S. Hechinger on the lessons the American University scandal holds for nonprofit boards, and Leslie Lenkowsky on why social-justice grant makers don't have more to show for the money they spend. LETTERS: on ending racism with foundation money, and on nurturing — and compensating — talented young employees. BOOKS: An examination of the ways nonprofit organizations and other groups can reinvigorate civic life, a look at how the John M. Olin Foundation helped spread conservatism in America, and summaries of other publications on black museums and Boys & Girls Clubs. PRESS CLIPPINGS: New York examines a brouhaha at a psychotherapy institute; U.S. News & World Report and Newsweek both cite outstanding nonprofit managers in features on leadership. PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world.