News Briefing: Records Indicate Tension Between Agency's Fired IG and Officials

• Documents expose a confrontational relationship between Gerald Walpin and officials at the Corporation for National and Community Service.  [Washington Post]

News Briefing: Kennedy Center Spreads Program for Arts Groups

• Warren Buffett's son, Howard, takes on a little-known role in fighting world hunger.  [Wall Street Journal]

• College endowments with less than $1 billion generally help up better than the larger ones.  [Wall Street Journal]

• The Kennedy Center announces a national tour of its program to help struggling nonprofit arts organizations.  [New York Times]

• Despite the economy, media companies still donated commercial time and ad space worth over $1.83 billion.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: Philanthropist With a Sense of Timing Raises Her Profile

• A new major donor hits the New York cultural scene.  [New York Times]

• Bernie Madoff is sentenced to 150 years in prison.  [New York Times]

• The Boston Foundation plans to distribute more grant money during the next fiscal year.  [Boston Globe]

News Briefing: Grant System Leads Cancer Researchers to Play It Safe

• Texas adopts a law that bars trustees from moving a trust or foundation out of Texas without court approval.  [New York Times]

• Scientists turn to private foundations to fund more speculative research.  [New York Times]

• Microsoft veterans launch two separate Seattle nonprofits aimed at encouraging a new generation of philanthropists by using mobile phone and social networking.  [Seattle Times]

• The government's economic stimulus package sets aside $2.5 billion for free and low-cost health clinics.  [Associated Press]

News Briefing: Swine Flu Halts Muscular Dystrophy Camps

• In a growing national movement, students enrolled in newly created philanthropy courses are steering thousands of dollars to local charities.  [Boston Globe]

• Thousands of Jerry's Kids will not attend camps this summer after officials halted the program in the face of suspected swine-flu cases.  [Philadelphia Inquirer]

News Briefing: Study Ties Madoff Loss to Charity’s Board Size

• A majority of more than 100 foundations that lost 30 percent or more of their assets in the Madoff scandal had four or fewer board members.  [New York Times]

• More than a dozen major cultural institutions try to slow a bill in the New York State Legislature that regulates the deaccessioning of collections.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: An Analysis Ranks Brands of Nonprofits

• Y.M.C.A. tops a list of the most valuable nonprofit brand, according to a new analysis.  [New York Times]

• Nick Jonas lobbies Washington's power brokers on behalf of diabetes research.  [Associated Press]

• The trustees of the City College of San Francisco squelch the Chancellor's plan to offer naming rights to save a canceled college class until they can discuss it in more detail.  [San Francisco Chronicle]

• The W.K. Kellogg Foundation gives $1.6 million to support activities in President Barack Obama's nationwide service initiative.  [Associated Press]

News Briefing: Foundations Trim Staffs After Assets Slide Lower

• The nation's foundations pare down their staffs in response to their declining assets.  [New York Times]

• Warren Buffett auctions off a lunch, to benefit the Glide Foundation in San Francisco.  [Associated Press]

• The Gates Foundation announces $16.5 million in grants for a developmental education initiative.  [Associated Press]

News Briefing: Jolie, Pitt Give UN Agency $1 Million

• Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have donated $1 million to the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees.  [Associated Press]

• Global health leaders from 25 nations are in Seattle to work on the problem of drug-resistent tuberculosis.  [Associated Press]

• The New York City Opera confronts an especially difficult chapter.  [New York Times]

Right to Dream Inaugural Fundraiser a Smash Success

Earlier this month, industry leaders in real estate, law, the nonprofit sector, finance, and fashion came together to enjoy an evening of cocktails and conversation in support of Right to Dream, USA at the organization's inaugural fundraiser.  The event, held at the XChange in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City, was organized by a committee of 15 young professionals, 25 or younger, who, in the spirit of the Right to Dream Academy, gave up their own time to help others’ dreams come true.  The Right to Dream Academy, founded in 1999 in Ghana, is a fully residential, international academy that provides students with a first class education in a safe and supporting environment. Since its inception, the Academy has provided a comprehensive education to over 80 children, helping them escape the desperate cycle of poverty rampant in Ghana. Through their program, the Academy nurtures future leaders who will inspire positive social development in their communities and throughout the world. 

All proceeds of the night’s event, which netted over $65,000, will help to complete the construction of a new Right to Dream Sports Academy in Ghana, as well as help fund the fifth class of students.

For more information on Right to Dream and the Right to Dream Academy, please visit http://www.righttodream.com. 

News Briefing: A.C.L.U. Report Says Antiterror Fight Undercuts Liberty of Muslim Donors

• An A.C.L.U. report states that the fight against terrorism has dealt a harsh blow to Muslim charities.  [New York Times]

• Lawyers for the poor face layoffs across the country as local governments slash spending in these hard economic times.  [Associated Press]

• A vast majority of the world's countries lack adequate laws to address the growing problem of traffic deaths and injuries, according to a new W.H.O. report.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: Plan for Dozens of Salvation Army Centers Falters

• Joan Kroc's plan for lavish Salvation Army community centers - funded in part by her $1.8 billion - is sputtering five years after her death.  [New York Times]

• University of Virginia President John Casteen says he will step down next year, after two decades on the job.  [Washington Post]

• A Texas teen aims to raise $1 million for the Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children.  [Associated Press]

• Former Texas Governor Bill Clements is giving $100 million to UT Southwestern Medical Center.  [The Dallas Morning News]

News Briefing: DC Holocaust Museum to Reopen After Fatal Shooting

• The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum re-opens after a day of mourning for a guard killed in an attack.  [Associated Press]

• The New York Philharmonic elects a new chairman.  [Associated Press]

• The Louvre museum has undergone a transformation over the past six years that has fundamentally changed the way it operates.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: Museum Gunman a Longtime Foe of Government

• An 88-year-old white supremacist fatally wounds a security guard at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.  [New York Times]

• Two people are charged with embezzling $200,000 from a Bronx nonprofit group in order to pay for a lavish lifestyle.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: Charitable Giving Declines, a New Report Finds

• Charitable giving falls by the largest percentage in five decades, according to a new study by the Giving USA Foundation.  [New York Times]

• Most charities fared adequately in 2008 until the final quarter of the year - traditionally the quarter that brings the most donations.  [Associated Press]

• A notebook of 33 pencil drawings by Pablo Picasso is stolen from the Picasso Museum in Paris.  [Associated Press]

News Briefing: Insider Appointed Chairwoman of Lincoln Center

• Katherine Farley, a senior managing director at Tishman Speyer and head of Lincoln Center's redevelopment project, has been appointed the chairwoman of Lincoln Center.  [New York Times]

• The Napa Valley wine auction scales down, raising about $5.7 million.  [Associated Press]

• Zimbabwean Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai is expected to request funding from Washington this week.  [Washington Post]

• San Francisco's tax assesor accuses the Archdiocese of San Francisco of dodging taxes.  [San Francisco Chronicle]

News Briefing: Shakira Makes Education Her Mission

• Shakira advances the cause of early-childhood development through a loose union of Ibero-American singers.  [New York Times Magazine]

• The nonprofit group Greening of Detroit pushes urban reforestation.  [Associated Press]

• The Detroit Symphony Orchestra receives a $1 million grant from the Ford Foundation for fundraising and marketing initiatives around music director Leonard Slatkin.  [Detroit Free Press]

News Briefing: In Hard Times, a Harlem Church Still Raises Funds

• The Brooklyn Museum's former payroll manager was arrested for stealing more than $600,000 from bogus paychecks.  [New York Daily News]

• In challenging times, a church in Harlem still raises funds.  [New York Times]

News Briefing: Charities Loosening Strings on Arts Grants

• Foundations are rethinking the way they do business.  [New York Times]

• President Obama intends to nominate Jim Leach, a former Republican congressman from Iowa, as the next chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities.  [New York Times]

• Jeff Raikes, CEO of the Gates Foundation, admits that it needs to improve its internal processes and the quality of its outside partnerships.  [Seattle Times]

News Briefing: A Match Challenge Is Quickly Met

• A $10 million challenge grant from Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller toward High Line Park is met by Lisa Maria and Philip Falcone.  [New York Times]

• The International Research and Exchanges Board urges Tehran to release an employee who has been jailed for nearly a year.  [Reuters]

• On July 18, people around the world will be encouraged to perform 67 minutes of community service to honor the 67 years that Nelson Mandela has fought for racial and social equality.  [New York Times]