Pierre Omidyar (oh-MEED'-yar), eBay's founder and chairman, and his wife, Pam, have donated $50 million to the Hawaii Community Foundation.

The charitable services and grant-making organization said Tuesday that a portion of the six-year commitment will be used to launch several community initiatives.

It says the rest of the money will support the Omidyars' ongoing philanthropic interests through their Omidyar Ohana Fund at the foundation.

A Pittsburgh-based maternal and child health care collaborative will undertake a unique and innovative initiative to help families face the challenges of parental depression and early childhood developmental delays.

Under U.S. federal law, all states must implement a system of early intervention services for infants and toddlers, birth to age three, who have developmental concerns, and their families. Many states do not include risk factors in their eligibility criteria.

The Helping Families Raise Healthy Children initiative is supported by a three-year, $500,000 matching grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation Local Funding Partnerships program. The grant was awarded to Community Care, the managed behavioral health care organization in Allegheny County. Local funders of the initiative currently include The Highmark Foundation (nominating funder), UPMC Health Plan, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Fine Foundation, FISA Foundation, and Jewish Healthcare Foundation.

Hall of Famer and Baltimore native Pam Shriver approaches her annual charity tennis classic in much the same way the U.S. Postal Service goes about delivering mail. Nothing is going to stop it.

"I think there is still a great desire to have that one fun night of tennis in Baltimore, and I'd like to see us reach 25 years," said Shriver, who will host the event for the 24th time Dec. 9 at 1st Mariner Arena. "And if it has to stop, I want a better reason for not having it than that the banks are having an economic downturn. We still have to go out and have our fun."

Shriver is the event's major guarantor this year, a shift from the past 23 years, when one bank or another -- five of them all together -- sponsored it. But this year, PNC Bank declined to renew its sponsorship, and no else has stepped forward to attach its name to the event, which benefits the Baltimore Community Foundation in partnership with children's charities.

Nineteen non-profit organizations received a total of over $135,000 in grants Wednesday at the Terre Haute Holiday Inn.

Wabash Valley Community Foundation volunteers chose each group. The non-profits were chosen after a long and competitive application process.

The grants come from donors who give money to reinvest in the community. Efforts also go towards saving up money for non-profits.

The Wabash Valley Community Foundation gave out more than $135,000 dollars in grants Wednesday. Gifts ranged from $500 to 30,000 dollars.

The foundation awarded 19 agencies.

Each organization spoke about what the money will provide.

Leaders say it feels good to be able to support the community.

Beth Tevlin, the Executive Director of the Wabash Valley Community Foundation says,” We’re very humbled to be able to have donors who've invested in the community foundation and then we're very humbled to be able to partner with all of these great organizations and be able to give them grants. If we had more unrestricted endowed funds, we would be able to give more grants because there are non-profits out there who have fabulous ideas for programs that will really benefit Vigo County."

Community foundations suffered steep investment losses last year, ending a five-year streak of positive returns and damaging their purchasing power, according to a new report from the Council on Foundations, an organization that represents grant makers.

Stocks accounted for just over 53 percent of community foundations investment portfolios last year, down from 61 percent in 2007. Alternative investments, such as hedge funds, accounted for more than 20 percent of foundation portfolios last year, up from less than 1 percent nine years earlier.

The Council on Foundations report, 2008 Investment Performance and Practices of Community Foundations can be ordered from the councils Web site, by faxing an order form to 703-879-0988

Clair County plans to launch a land bank in the coming days, a plan officials said will improve the development of tax-foreclosed properties.

County Treasurer Kelly Roberts-Burnett and the county's metropolitan planning commission already have set up an agreement with the state's land bank.

Starting tonight, they will seek public input and partnerships with area municipalities, housing nonprofits, economic development groups and the Community Foundation of St. Clair County.

The land bank "takes property that is unproductive, inasmuch as it has habitually gone through tax foreclose, and it allows the community to turn that property around and make it productive once again," said Bill Kaufman, executive director of the county's metro planning commission.

"I think it will definitely help," Roberts-Burnett said. Once a land bank has control, it can work to demolish structures, clean the property or transfer unbuildable land to neighbors -- among many other options.

Roberts-Burnett said such intervention is needed because out-of-state developers will often buy such land without ever seeing it. "If we have these properties that have issues with them, we can take whatever steps necessary to resolve the problems."

The number of tax foreclosures in the county increased by 25% from 2008 to 2009, or an increase from 42 in 2008 to 52 in 2009.

A property enters tax foreclosure after three consecutive years without paying taxes.

Roberts-Burnett said land banks, a growing trend in Michigan, help to stabilize and revitalize neighborhoods.

"Certainly having a dilapidated property brings down values," she said. The land bank "would help the landowners if we got that cleaned up."

The Erie Community Foundation will use $1 million in federal stimulus money to develop job-training programs for nearly 100 local nonprofit organizations.

The announcement of the grant -- part of a $46 million stimulus distribution -- came Wednesday. The day before, a census report confirmed what too many in the community already knew: Nearly one in four Erie residents is living in poverty.

The federal government draws that line at an annual income of $10,400. According to the census report, 24.2 percent of Erie residents lived on less in 2008.