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Reports on charitable giving by corporations. Example of Minneapolis-based General Mills Inc., which funded a project alleviate the urban blight in the Minneapolis neighborhood of Hawthorne, and has long history of giving; Questions about how much businesses owe the communities in which they operate; Views of economist Milton Friedman, who described corporate giving as suicidal and akin to socialism, and argued that corporations should return all of their profits to shareholders; Argument by some corporations that funding causes to improve the lives of their employees, customers and people in their communities is within their self-interest; Tendency to merge the needs of the company with the needs of the community; Details of how the magazine's ranking of corporate donors was compiled; Controversies surrounding the motives of some corporate donations; Role of public image and employee recruitment in corporate giving; Sharing of skills as a form of giving.

Introduces the magazine's special report on philanthropy in the United States. Observation that top U.S. philanthropists such as Bill and Melinda Gates, Michael and Susan Dell, David and Cheryl Duffield and Jeffrey S. Skoll are combining their billions with their enormous personal capital to attack some of the world's most intractable social problems. Claim that the businesslike rigor these donors bring to philanthropy help helping to make the nonprofit world more productive and efficient. Differences between today's philanthropists and those of previous generations, including the belief that it is important to give now, and not at death; Explanation of how the list was compiled; Emergence of a group of secret givers; Growth in the number of givers who made their fortunes in technology; Increased interest in helping the world's poor; Fears among philanthropists that inherited wealth will harm their families.

Reports that married-couple families now only make up just over half of American households, and that singles and non-traditional families could soon become the norm in the United States. Statistics on the make-up of households from the U.S. Census Bureau; Speculation on the implications of this demographic shift; Advantages enjoyed by married couples in taxation and employee benefits such as health care coverage and pensions; Speculation that businesses and politicians will be challenged to design benefits, structure taxes, and develop retirement models that more fairly match the changing population; Example of companies offering benefits to the non-traditional families of employees; Tensions between traditional families and the new households; Changes in attitudes towards marriage among young people.