Higher foundation payout means higher grants, and higher grants mean more nonprofit activity.

U.S. charitable foundations have increased the amounts given to international causes at record levels. The growth of international giving reflects the changing world and the newer generation of givers.

While it may make you feel better to know that your charitable donations are going to organizations that are highly rated by online charity rankings, these sites fail to quantify the most-important and most elusive charity measurement: success in achieving its mission.

The arrogance of foundations that regard themselves as ‘experts’ on everything, and the way they make life difficult for NGOs.

Suggestions on decisive volunteering steps designed to ensure the future of charity in your area.

Community investing refers to socially responsible investing strategies designed to have some direct, positive social impact stemming from the actual investment. This would include investing in underserved communities or international options such as microfinance.

Agricultural roots can help the poor of Africa’s densely populated slums get ahead. The "farm-in-a-sack" creates mini-farms that improve the nutrition intake of those families.

Being able to make a difference to a whole family is incredible, especially when for the price of a new PlayStation you can build a family a new home.

If your image of a philanthropist is a stout, gray geezer, then meet Talia Leman, an eighth grader who loves soccer and swimming,

Disasters often hit the poor the hardest. It doesn't have to be that way.

A widely held belief is that if a man with HIV or AIDS rapes a virgin he will be cured of his disease.

The Millennium Development Goals, which aim to improve the world through human development, could be achieved at an annual cost of $40-$70 billion. In comparison, world spending on military in 2003 was $956 billion.

Federal law requires that foundations pay out 5 percent annually. Foundations could spend at least 6 percent in payout without hurting their endowments.

The evidence is overwhelming: We Americans are by no means the generous, giving people we like to imagine. Most evangelical Christians in America could double their giving and still fall short of the tithe God instructed.

It doesn't look pretty: The United States ranks last among the world's 28 top foreign aid donor countries. According to a United Nations report Human Development Report 2002, based on foreign aid relative to the size of a nation's economy, the United States is devoting only 0.1 per cent of its gross national product (GNP) to help the world's poorest countries, less than any other industrialized nation, well below Denmark, the Netherlands, Japan and even Spain and Portugal. What's worse, U.S. foreign aid has been cut in half over the past 10 years. Is this something we should care about?

After 33 years as a school psychologist, Ralph Rosenberg retired, and although he was only 55, he was already thinking about his legacy. He considered selling a studio apartment he owned and donating the profits to a charity. He had bought the apartment as an investment property for $64,000. But when he had it appraised, it was worth more than $200,000.

The burgeoning federal deficit, coupled with new spending for defense and homeland security, will soon put health care, education and other social programs in a serious squeeze. Yet this crunch can be eased if America's richest foundations and other nonprofit groups distributed more of their money now instead of saving for the future.

Can the charitable world find new footing in changing times? The sour economy and lame markets are putting a hurt on charity, which has a rare chance to shake itself awake and heal itself.

Parents scramble to instill value of giving in children amid rampant materialism. Volunteering and giving back to others is one of the best ways to build a child's character and self-esteem. Teaching children about money and giving it away is something that parents should include on their list of "things I need to teach my child."

Most children I have come to know, whether rich or poor, have a profound longing to do something worthwhile with their lives. What happens over time to this deep-set idealism?