President Obama encourages us all to serve our country and our neighbors, as evidenced by his day of personal service yesterday during Martin Luther King Jr. Day.

Visit the Renew America Together website and see how you can pitch in to make for a brighter and better America.

The Indiana University Center on Philanthropy’s most recent Philanthropic Giving Index reports what many of us expected, according to the Association of Fundraising Professionals. The Index, akin to the Consumer Confidence Index, surveys professional fundraiser on their outlook on giving in America. The indexed outlook for the first six months of 2009 is 66.1 out of 100 possible points; the average expectation index has been 88.9 over the life of the survey.