The New York Times

Storytelling can influence social change. And the time is now. Today, each of us has the opportunity, and the platform, to not only share our stories but also to play a role in creating positive impact by informing the global conversation. Beverly Schwartz, VP of global marketing at Ashoka, author of “Rippling: How Social Entrepreneurs Spread Innovation throughout the World,” shares three (and a half) storytelling tips: 1. Be your own change. 2. Speak from your heart, share your truth. 3. Accessible, relevant and realistic examples allow others to see their own power.

While volunteer and professional fundraisers must have useful information to effectively perform, organizations must protect sensitive items and keep them confidential. I’m going to provide you with eight tips that will help you keep your organization safe and your prospects and donors happy. Before a crisis happens at your organization, take the time to review your organization’s own prospect research and information sharing protocols.

The United States Postal Service announced plans to transition to a new delivery schedule during the week of Aug. 5, 2013, that includes package delivery Monday through Saturday, and mail delivery Monday through Friday. The Postal Service expects to generate cost savings of approximately $2 billion annually, once the plan is fully implemented.

A group advocating a more transparent government has formed a nonprofit organization called the Freedom of the Press Foundation to serve as a conduit for donations to organizations like WikiLeaks. The goal is to insulate those groups’ fundraising efforts from political and business pressures.

In December 2010, Visa, MasterCard and PayPal announced that they would no longer accept transactions for WikiLeaks, the online leak group that released thousands of secret documents from the American government. The move to cut off donations eliminated the vast majority of financing for WikiLeaks.

Additional million-dollar donations for recovery efforts following Superstorm Sandy from a broad spectrum of corporations were announced this week. As of midweek, the Coach Foundation had joined the ranks of seven-figure contributors to Sandy recovery efforts, pledging $2 million to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, while apparel company PVH Corp. announced a donation of $1 million, to be shared equally by the Red Cross, the Mayor's Fund to Advance New York City and the Hurricane Sandy New Jersey Relief Fund.

Recent tweets from folks you should be following.

Cornell University’s sports recruiting Monday gained a $20 million boost. Seneca Foods CEO Art Wolcott donated the money to Cornell’s Award Match Initiative.

The university describes Wolcott as a “loyal and generous supporter of Cornell’s athletics program — particularly football.” He also is a former chairman of the school’s Athletics Advisory Council.

Gaming is more than just a pastime for teenage boys nowadays. The Knight Foundation and San Francisco gaming company Zynga are delving into digital games that are meant not just for entertainment, but also for social impact. And their audience is widening. Recent studies suggest that adult women represent a greater portion of the game-playing population than teenage boys.

The New York Times has eliminated its philanthropy beat, a move that could make it harder for nonprofits to get their stories told to a national audience.

The newspaper was one of the last daily newspapers to employ a reporter to cover national nonprofits on a full-time basis. That reporter, Stephanie Strom, is now writing about business.

Stephanie Yera, a spokeswoman for the New York Times Co., said the newspaper would still cover philanthropy-related stories “across news desks.”

Two relative newcomers to private philanthropy — the Arcus and Gill foundations, which were started in 2000 and 1994, respectively — have given more money to gay causes than any other grant maker, according to a new report by Funders for LGBTQ Issues.

Overall, 799 grant makers have contributed more than $771 million to lesbian and gay issues since 1970, the report says. The money has gone to 6,000 charities working in 117 countries.