Winners: How 7 Charities Made It to the Top

ARTS GROUPS: Gifts to the Milwaukee Art Museum more than tripled as the city’s residents demonstrated their support for the institution’s plans to build a new facility.

COLLEGES AND UNIVERSITIES: New York’s Polytechnic University achieved huge gains by reaching out to its trustees for big donations and by running an ambitious capital campaign.

ENVIRONMENTAL AND ANIMAL-RELATED GROUPS: The Wildlife Conservation Society/New York Zoological Society won big gifts to renovate its children’s zoo.

HEALTH CHARITIES: The Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International scored an increase of more than 40 per cent in part by aggressively seeking gifts of $10,000 or more.

HUMAN-SERVICES GROUPS: The Christian Appalachian Project in Kentucky succeeded by nurturing relationships with companies that provide donations of products that can be distributed to the poor.

INTERNATIONAL GROUPS: Christian Aid Ministries secured major gains by offering donors a variety of options and by giving volunteers opportunities to take a close-up look at the charity’s work.

RELIGIOUS GROUPS: Promise Keepers, which encourages men to follow the Christian faith, has managed to make donations skyrocket, but that is still not enough to help the charity avoid hard times.