Items relevant to more than one category may appear more than once in this summary. From the issue dated September 14, 2006 About Grant Makers THE ROCKEFELLER FOUNDATION, in an attempt to revitalize its operations, is making major changes in its personnel and grant making, unsettling grantees and employees alike. GIFTS TO COMMUNITY FOUNDATIONS rose by a third last year, according to a Columbus Foundation study, leading to growth in assets and grant making. RECENT GRANTS by foundations, corporations, and other grant makers. About Gifts and Good Works WHO BETTER to inspire teenagers to work for peace than people who have won a Nobel Prize for doing just that? That's the idea behind PeaceJam. A FLORIDA ORTHODONTIST has informed three dental schools he will not make good on pledges of $135-million that he made to them for scholarships and building projects. THE AMERICAN MUSEUM of Natural History will receive $20-million for its research and science programs; other recent gifts to nonprofit organizations and institutions. THE FACE OF PHILANTHROPY: A Virginia artist is encouraging youngsters to create chalk paintings depicting peace on pavements around their hometowns, and plans to enlist volunteers to photograph their works. About Fund Raising NEW TAX BREAKS could yield a lot of money for charities, but the strings attached to some provisions might undercut the gains. SOLICITING GIFTS that donors are now allowed to make from their individual retirement accounts requires some care, experts say: advice for fund raisers. AIMING TO CURB ABUSES by nonprofit groups and donors, the tax law signed by President Bush in August could end up causing a lot of trouble for law-abiding charities. UNITED WAYS raised almost $4-billion in 2005, 2.9 percent more than the year before, though many of them found the competition from hurricane-relief solicitations a challenge. 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 CONCLUSION of the Internal Revenue Service investigation into the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was a relief to the charity but offered little guidance on what the tax agency considers improper politicking. PUBLIC CONFIDENCE IN CHARITIES is coming back from the slump that followed September 11, 2001, a new survey has found, but the rebound is slow and spotty. DISABLED PEOPLE can be capable volunteers and help to diversify a charity's work force into the bargain, as nonprofit managers are learning. THE HUMANE SOCIETY has effected another merger, this one with the Doris Day Animal League, as part of its efforts to create "gravitational mass" in the field of animal protection. MANY VICTIMS OF HURRICANE KATRINA are still unaware of the services that are available to them, and charities and government need to do more to reach out, a new report states. RETURNING TO THE NASHVILLE BALLET as its executive director was for Andrea Dillenburg "like coming home" (New on the Job). THE PURPOSE PRIZE was designed to get Americans to think differently about aging: details on the first group of winners and their efforts to aid society. A 1906 SIDE-WHEELER that plied Lake Champlain, the Ticonderoga draws thousands every year to Shelburne, Vt., thanks to a quixotic collector, a local philanthropist, and a dedicated team of restorers (Dispatches). REPORTS ON CHARITIES by the Better Business Bureau Wise Giving Alliance. About Technology A DALLAS CHARITY has developed technology systems that link companies with excess inventory to nonprofit groups that can use it. SPAM FILTERS stop roughly a quarter of the e-mail messages that nonprofit groups send out to supporters, a new study has found. AT&T, working with a Washington nonprofit group, will donate discounted technology and free Internet service to 50,000 low-income families over the next three years. Also in This Issue EXTRAS: Online resources: See materials related to these articles available exclusively on our Web site. OPINION: Frances R. Hill on the Internal Revenue Service's recently ended investigation of the NAACP; William A. Schambra on how the Gates Foundation might hear some real "truth-telling" about its programs; and Clint Wilkins on what he wants to do next, now that he's retired. BOOKS: A fund-raising guide for trustees and a handbook on promoting social causes, plus summaries of other publications on relations between arts groups and government, efforts to strengthen fund raising at black colleges, an evaluation of a program that links retired people with needy students, and how foundations can offer loans and other so-called program-related investments to charities. PEOPLE: Appointments and promotions in the nonprofit world. AWARDS: Honors for people and organizations in philanthropy.