Philanthropy

In the 16 years since his release from prison, disgraced junk-bond king Michael Milken has beaten prostate cancer, raised hundreds of millions of dollars for medical research and reshaped an image tarnished by a 1990 conviction for securities fraud. One thing he's been unable to do is win a presidential pardon, despite the support of some of the country's most influential people. Before he left office Jan.

Trying to ease the burden of families squeezed by the recession and skyrocketing tuition costs, UC Berkeley announced plans Wednesday to extend financial aid to thousands of students from households earning $80,000 to $140,000 a year. With the program, which starts next fall, UC Berkeley becomes a pioneer among public universities in a national effort to make a college education more affordable for a wider swath of middle-income families. Well-funded private colleges previously have led the way. UC Berkeley officials called the move a response to reports in California and around the country that some middle-income households are being priced out of the University of California and are reluctant to take on high levels of debt.

They seemed so young. That's what Peter Hero remembers most about the day, nine years ago, when Pierre Omidyar and Jeff Skoll walked into his office at Community Foundation Silicon Valley with an odd idea to give away a fortune. Omidyar wore jeans and a T-shirt; his thick black hair was tied back in a ponytail. Skoll had on what looked to Hero like a varsity jacket. He couldn't still be in high school, could he?

The Arizona Diamondbacks, New York Yankees and Detroit Tigers are among baseball's leaders — and this time we're not talking about the standings. Those teams, though widely separated in geography, tradition and fan base, have stepped up to the plate where it's mattered most — in their communities, by giving of their time and treasure. In Phoenix, the Diamondbacks, who like most teams already were giving away more than 100,000 tickets a season to various organizations, also have awarded more than $250,000 in season tickets and food vouchers to needy fans over the last four years.

For the Miami Central High marching band, the money that appeared for new uniforms, instruments and airline tickets to New York so that they could strut their stuff in last year's Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was nothing short of magic. "We were blessed," said band director Shelby Chipman after West African millionaire Foutanga Dit Babani Sissoko wrote out a check for $300,000 minutes after running into fund-raising band members playing dance tunes at a bar mitzvah in a downtown hotel.

After opening a new $14.6-million wing in February to house the special exhibitions it considers its signature, the Bowers Museum of Cultural Art in Santa Ana has received an anonymous donation of $2 million to create an endowment to defray the costs of those exhibitions. The contribution, equal to the $2 million that Dorothy and Donald Kennedy donated to have the new wing named for themselves, launches the Bowers on an effort to build an endowment.

It is a rare quiet day at the Santa Monica villa of computer software king Peter Norton and his wife, Eileen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has recently come and gone, as have William Gray, head of the United Negro College Fund, a group of 800 looky-loos on a garden tour and the guests at a preschool fund raiser. The Nortons are hanging out at the kitchen table. Their butler, who used to work for Malcolm Forbes, hovers discreetly. "We're ordinary.

Mark Dowie's "Charity for Profit" (Opinion, Nov. 23) certainly highlights what appears to be a segment of philanthropy motivated by self-interest. Although motivation is indeed a worthy inquiry, in this case of "charity networking" I have two concerns: 1) At least these people of wealth give, while many give nothing, and 2) it's unfortunate that this type of giving tends to avoid the small, less visible, grass-roots charities struggling to survive. As a fund-raiser for nonprofit organizations, my main concern is that this article may reinforce a negative image of donors when in fact most philanthropists are value-driven, with the highest of charitable motivations, and are excellent role models.

John Legend, the Grammy Award-winning musician, was in search of a charitable cause last year. An African village he supported was thriving, but the Ohio-born singer, fresh from volunteering in the Obama campaign, wanted to do something domestically ? something, he recalled, "for people who don't have a voice. " Legend hired a consulting firm, and a month and a half later, he had a cause: education reform. "My time is very hard to come by and you have to delegate sometimes," Legend said in a phone interview from his European tour.

Robert Erburu, who retired in January as chairman of Times Mirror Co., parent company of the Los Angeles Times, will be honored for his contributions to philanthropy on Nov. 15 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills. Erburu will be named outstanding volunteer on National Philanthropy Day, which is sponsored by the local chapter of the National Society of Fund-Raising Executives and supported by a number of other organizations.

Since he was elected to City Hall nearly 10 years ago, Michael R. Bloomberg has usually made large charitable donations anonymously — an effort to avoid blurring his roles as mayor and grand benefactor. But as he serves his final term as mayor, Bloomberg, a multibillionaire who is among America's top 10 philanthropists, has been more overtly leveraging his wealth to bolster what he believes in. On Thursday, Bloomberg announced that his family foundation would contribute to a groundbreaking $127-million city initiative to help young black and Latino men, who too often end up uneducated and jailed.

I could just see the eyebrows rising around the room. I was moderating a panel on philanthropy not long ago, and on my left, Premal Shah, the president of Kiva.org , was talking animatedly about how much fun Kiva donors had, competing with each other, in teams, to see who could do the most good. Fun? This is not your father's philanthropy. Shah"s online matchmaking philanthro-banking site lets people in the donor door for as little as $25. Kiva posts loan appeals from thousands of worldwide "entrepreneurs" on the site -- Shah doesn't call them "the needy" or any other such term.

She's recording a new album and getting ready to star in a remake of the musical "Gypsy," but Barbra Streisand isn't too busy to be honored this week by MusiCares, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences foundation that aids musicians in crisis. "I love musicians," she explains. "I love people who create music, play music, sing music — whatever. It is a very unified profession. We admire each other's work. " FOR THE RECORD: Streisand tribute: An article in the Feb. 8 Calendar section about a musical program honoring Barbra Streisand, to be presented Friday by the MusiCares foundation of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, misspelled the last name of Diana Krall as Krull.

As the head of the California Endowment, the state's largest healthcare foundation, Robert Ross wields the kind of political power that comes with giving away $165 million a year. A pediatrician by training, Ross has delved into issues as varied as childhood obesity, prison reform and the future of the beleaguered Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. But what has made Ross, 56, into a powerful force in California philanthropy is not just the money he gives away: it's his approach to big-ticket giving that his organization has made a central part of its mission.

John Legend, the Grammy Award-winning musician, was in search of a charitable cause last year. An African village he supported was thriving, but the Ohio-born singer, fresh from volunteering in the Obama campaign, wanted to do something domestically ? something, he recalled, "for people who don't have a voice. " Legend hired a consulting firm, and a month and a half later, he had a cause: education reform. "My time is very hard to come by and you have to delegate sometimes," Legend said in a phone interview from his European tour.

The American Institute of Philanthropy graded these breast-cancer charities based on the efficiency of their fundraising efforts and the proportion of revenue they devote to their missions. The grades are below, along with the cost for each organization to raise $100: Breast Cancer Research Foundation, A+, $7 National Breast Cancer Coalition Fund, A, $12-$13 Breast Cancer Fund, A-, $13 Susan G. Komen for the Cure, B+, $6-$17 Breast Cancer Network of Strength, B-, $24 Avon Foundation/Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, C+, $21-$39 American Breast Cancer Foundation, F, $43-$67 United Breast Cancer Foundation, F, $48-$69 Coalition Against Breast Cancer, F, $81 Breast Cancer Relief Foundation, F, $76-$86 Chicago Tribune

Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan was honored for his charitable giving Wednesday with an award from the National Commission on Philanthropy and Civic Renewal. Riordan promptly donated the $100,000 "Effective Giving in America" prize, which he received for his support of Los Angeles' Puente Learning Center, to that center. The center, with buildings in East and South Los Angeles, provides free English and job training classes for more than 2,000 students.

Pink toothbrushes, pink bottles of wine, pink debit cards ? there's a chance to donate to breast cancer pretty much everywhere you shop. But how can you tell how much good comes from each piece of pink? It's a reasonable question, considering the complexity of charitable giving and the millions of dollars involved. "People of every age are very sympathetic to breast cancer and willing to help, and fundraisers take advantage of that," says Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a nonprofit organization in Chicago that helps donors make informed giving decisions.

The New York Yankees had reclaimed what they consider their rightful place, atop baseball's throne. They celebrated on opening day, the champions with their rings, and George Steinbrenner came in for a little teasing from the man he had appointed as captain of the team. The owner had worn his Ohio State ring. Derek Jeter told him to take it off and replace it with that shiny new Yankees ring. "Those are the memories that you remember," Jeter said, "those intimate moments."