• A new breed of philanthropists are using their money to influence public policy.  [New York Times]

• David G. Booth donates $300 million to the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business.  [New York Times]

• The Chicago Tribune sits down with David Booth to discuss his record donation to the University of Chicago.  [Chicago Tribune]

• In Sarasota County, opportunity exists for Habitat for Humanity and the city to work together.  [Sarasota Herald-Tribune]

• Several prominent foundations in the New York area have been particularly damaged by the recent collapses on Wall Street.  [New York Times]

• The Howard Hughes Medical Institute chooses Robert Tjian, a professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Berkeley, as its next president.  [New York Times]

• Thirty-three pastors defy a federal law that prohibits U.S. clergy from endorsing political candidates from the pulpit.  [Washington Post]

• Bloomberg seeks to bring his business-minded, results-based approach to the city's senior centers.  [New York Times]

• Chairman of the Smithsonian donates $15 million to the National Museum of Natural History.  [Washington Post]

• Cory Booker, Mayor of Newark, aggresssively courts private capital to bolster his financially beleaguered city.  [New York Times]

• The board of the A.C.L.U. votes to take over the management and operations of its South Carolina affiliate.  [New York Times]

• Public radio tries to reignite its public.  [New York Times]

• American Idol and Fox prepare for their second annual "Idol Gives Back" fundraising appeal.  [New York Times]

• The Kenyan government is asking donor nations, including the U.S., to provide nearly $500 million to resettle people and rebuild the tens of thousands of burned down homes, businesses, public utilities, and schools.  [New York Times]

• Seventy-seven percent of nonprofit hospitals are in the black compared to just 61% of for-profit hospitals.  [Wall Street Journal]

• The majority of the Clintons' charitable contributions over the past eight years has gone to the Clinton Family Foundation.  [Washington Post]

• Bill Clinton's sprawling business and charitable empire attracts more scrutiny as the Democratic presidential nomination race gets tighter.  [Wall Street Journal]

• Grass-roots giving is reshaping campaign fundraising.  [Los Angeles Times]

• The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, with an annual "excess of margin" of $618 million, will contribute up to $100 million to help pay college tuition for seniors graduating from the city's public schools.  [New York Times]

• Wiley College, struggling for survival, turns to silver screen for its fundraising hopes.  [New York Times]

• Fordham alum William D. Walsh gives the school his antiquities collection, establishing the Fordham Museum of Greek, Etruscan, and Roman Art.  [New York Times]

• 501 (c)(4) nonprofit groups emerge in 2008 election campaigns.  [Washington Post]

• Mysterious donor gives staggering $100 million to the Erie Community Foundation; 46 charities to receive $1 - $2 million each.  [Associated Press]

• For 2008 election, some major political players are expected to shift their money from traditional campaign entities to nonprofits, who do not impose contribution caps.  [Los Angeles Times]

• Charities begin experimenting with mergers as a way to cut costs, reduce duplication of services, and increase their reach.  [New York Times]

Fascinating piece in this week's BusinessWeek about the arrival of the venture philanthropy model to political causes, particularly on the left. Jessi Hempel reports on relatively new organizations like the New Progressive Coalition, a for-profit fund founded by August Capital general partner Andy Rappaport and his wife, Deborah:

To build powerful progressive-thought leadership, "We need to experiment by supporting a large number of small efforts," says Rappaport. "Some will succeed, and we'll be able to throw more money and effort at them and build them to scale." As with the philanthropic venture organizations, shareholders will be able to measure their profits using a double bottom line—the monetary return that will keep the business afloat and the political return that will eventually build powerful think tanks that can keep step with the right.

Here's how the coalition works: Member organizations pay annual dues of up to $5,000 on a sliding scale, based on the size of their budgets. This allows them to be listed in the online "marketplace" and also gives them access to technical assistance and professional advice from NPC's 58-person advisory team, drawn from a variety of fields including marketing and finance.

So far, about 200 groups have signed on, including national pro-choice group Choice USA and independent online rag Alternet.org. Meanwhile, investors—so far, just 220—pay an annual membership fee of $250 for networking, events, publications, and help connecting to groups to which they can donate money and time. They can search the database online, or they can get more focused advice from NPC professionals.

The coalition will include 54 measurements that cover everything from the average years of experience among the senior leaders to the percentage increase in the budget or revenue from the previous year. Interesting trend, what's the impact on philanthropy...

BeliefNet: Syracuse University professor Arthur C. Brooks is about to become the darling of the religious right in America -- and it's making him nervous. The child of academics, raised in a liberal household and educated in the liberal arts, Brooks has written a book that concludes religious conservatives donate far more money than secular liberals to all sorts of charitable activities, irrespective of income. In the book, he cites extensive data analysis to demonstrate that values advocated by conservatives -- from church attendance and two-parent families to the Protestant work ethic and a distaste for government-funded social services -- make conservatives more generous than liberals.