Rensselaer gets anonymous $130M gift
The donation to the Troy, N.Y.-based Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is the university's largest private donation, and the 10th largest to any American university. It will fund new biotechnology and arts centers.

Privacy groups’ effectiveness questioned
TRUSTe and other online privacy certification groups including BBBOnLine and WebTrust are being scrutinized for lax standards, not cracking down on violators, and other issues. Observers say these are signs industry self-regulation doesn't work for an issue as important as consumer privacy protection.

Outdoor education sweeping the nation
Not all learning has to take place in front of a computer, or even in a classroom. Many teachers around the country offer students outdoor classes where the focus is on challenging feats, cooperative work and learning about the environment.

UNICEF: More needed for young children
The agency's new report on the health and well-being of the world's children states that nearly every nation needs to do more to promote healthy development of young children, newborns to three-year-olds.

Washington state a hotbed of school giving
The high-tech revolution has made a number of people in and around Seattle quite wealthy. Many of these people are now using venture philanthropy to boost K-12 public school programs and other education reform measures.

Web site offers children Net safety tips
The new Stay Safe Online site offers children a guided video tour of safe Internet surfing habits, and talks about specific safety measures for all forms of online contacts.

Court rules against Cleveland vouchers
A federal appeals court has found the Ohio city's publicly-funded voucher program violates the separation of church and state. The next step may be the Supreme Court.

Report: Globalization brings rights problems
The globalization of businesses and economies is providing millions of people with a better standard of living. But human rights problems that have been created or sustained since countries began opening their markets and borders may require a new international watchdog, a new report states.

D.C. area leads nation in giving
The first report to examine the giving habits of residents in the Washington, D.C. area and surrounding communities shows that -- contrary to public perception -- people there are among the most generous in America.

CNET boosts nonprofit tech support site
Realizing the nonprofit sector lags behind the private sector in technology use and support, the CNET online tech information portal will boost the efforts of CompuMentor's TechSoup site.

"Green" dorm an innovative example
Wisconsin's Northland College decided to take its three-decade emphasis on environmental education and support and build a "green" living center that could be a model for residence halls and other facilities around the nation. By most accounts, they've succeeded in their goal.

Giving nationwide is up, despite economy jitters
The tech sector may have lost many of the gains recorded this year, but most donors aren't pulling back in their gifts to charity. An informal review by the Associated Press finds many nonprofits well above 1999's record-setting levels.

Study: Some Net users log off for good
A new study finds that 30 million Americans stopped using the Internet in 1999. Teenagers and college graduates are the largest demographic groups to quit, and the Net's increasing commercialization may be a primary cause.

Charities failing to tap minority giving
A handful of national reports show that most nonprofit groups and foundations don't target minority donors in their efforts. The problem may be that traditional efforts don't recognize the tendency for minority donors to give more, and more often, to local causes.

Conservation group launches new Web site
The Trust for Public Land has unveiled a new and improved Internet destination for people and groups searching for online conservation resources, information and other tools.

High-Tech Goes High-Touch
Jane Meseck, Microsoft's Community Affairs program manager, reviews how online and other technologies can serve as powerful tools for nonprofits to increase their efficiency and extend their missions, and where groups can go for further help.

New effort to boost college attendance
The ambitious National Pathways to College Network program unites the U.S. Education Department, a half-dozen foundations and 16 education groups to boost the number of minority and poor students attending -- and graduating from -- college.

Study lists 60 largest tech cities
The American Electronics Association report shows that the largest high-tech cities have generally kept their rankings, but other areas are creating more jobs. Critics claim the report is already outdated.

Schools budgeting more for technology
There is growing evidence that school officials are no longer relying on grants or donations to purchase technology, instead including funds for new equipment, software and training in their budgets.

Clinton preserves Hawaii coral reefs
In an effort to save the coral reefs and other wildlife surrounding the northwestern Hawaiian Islands, President Clinton created the nation's largest nature preserve, an 84-million-acre area.

Ga. church to give away most of $60M gift
Members of St. Marys United Methodist Church in Georgia were surprised to find out longtime member Warren Bailey had left the 201-year-old church a $60 million bequest. The congregation will give away most of the money to nonprofit groups and other churches, in hopes that will preserve their tradition of faith.

Tech program offers lessons for success
The nonprofit Street Tech program started its first class of free technology and life-skills lessons with 32 people. Nine months later half the original class had dropped out, but those that stayed have higher-paying jobs and new skills.

Study: Parents should encourage kids’ charity
The 2000 Cone/Roper Raising Charitable Children Survey finds that 85 percent of Americans believe children should take part in some form of charitable work by the time they are 13 years old. Few parents actually follow through, however.

Free ISPs shutting down service
AltaVista, 1stUp and Spinway are ending their free dial-up Internet services, joining other firms leaving the market. There are still a handful of free ISPs, although many are suffering as part of a larger tech slowdown.

FDA seeks court action against Red Cross
The federal agency claims the Red Cross isn't meeting safety measures required under an 1993 consent decree, and wants to impose millions in fines against the organization.

ZapMe zaps free school computers
The company has notified 2,300 schools around the nation it is ending the formerly free computer and Internet access service. Schools must now either return the computers, or pay lump-sum or monthly fees to continue.

Columbia U. finishes record-setting campaign
The New York college has raised a record $2.74 billion since 1990, thanks to a number of big gifts from some well-known patrons. This is more than double Columbia's original goal, and is five years beyond the first target date.

NetSchools bridges W.V. educational digital divide
The four-county West Virginia education initiative will incorporate the Internet and other technology into daily school activities for all students, regardless of socioeconomic background, and provide teachers with technology training and support.

Microsoft, Boys/Girls Clubs in $100M program
The software giant has announced its largest community-based donation so far, a $100 million partnership with Boys & Girls Clubs of America that will open a tech center at every club site in America over the next five years. The new "Club Tech" program is designed to help close the digital divide.

AIDS agency head risks arrest to save lives
African AIDS Network founder Lee Wildes collects donated and surplus drugs and dispenses them to HIV sufferers in Africa. He doesn’t worry that his mission is breaking FDA and World Health Organization guidelines for dispensing drugs, because he says he's saving lives.

Pets.com takes classy final bow
The dot-com -- which formally closed on Nov. 7 -- is saving Alaskan sled dogs from death by starvation with a 21-ton donation of food to help animals owned by Alaskan villagers.

Traditional, venture philanthropy needed
Writing in Worth magazine, venture philanthropy leaders Paul Shoemaker and Jed Emerson say that America's larger social problems can be successfully addressed only through a combination of "classical" and "new century" strategies.

California smoking crackdown shows results
The state's ambitious anti-smoking effort launched more than 10 years ago is being credited with a significant drop in lung cancer rates among California residents.

Packard Foundation passes land goal
The David and Lucille Packard Foundation acquired 327,000 acres of California land for preservation in just over two years. This exceeds its five-year, 250,000-acre goal, so the group is doubling its goal.

N.Y. site to offer minorities online cancer info
The National Cancer Institute is funding a program that will establish a partnership between nonprofits, private groups and Memorial Sloan-Kettering's Cancer Information Service, to help minority communities better access to online cancer information.

Web filter controversy continues
A new controversy about an old battle is brewing in Washington: the use and regulation of Internet filter software. The debate centers around whether Web filters should reveal the sites they censor, or if that list can be kept private.

Technology can help boost workplace-giving
The next column in PNNOnline's "Challenges of the New Century" series features Pete Mountanos of Charitableway.com. Mountanos discusses how online technology can boost workplace-giving results and increase awareness of and loyalty to individual nonprofits.

UN: AIDS slows in Africa, not in other nations
An international review of new AIDS cases and related statistics shows transmission of the deadly virus has slowed in Africa -- but only because it's already killed millions of adults and children. Many other nations, especially Russia, haven't yet seen the worst of the epidemic.