Attorney Raquel Rodriquez recently celebrated a milestone birthday by asking her friends and family to donate their gifts to VGTI. This was a wonderful surprise and a great way to give a gift that keeps on giving to the future and to the research work that will benefit the world as it is done here at VGTI Florida. The first gift to arrive came from Jorge Carvallo and Eddy Cruz of Miami Beach. VGTI will be pleased to contribute this gift in Ms. Rodriquez’s honor to our general fund. Thank you to the donors and to the birthday lady for all their generosity and Happy Birthday Rocky!

Nonprofits that depend on money from the nation’s banks are struggling as financial companies, worried about the market turmoil and threats of a double-dip recession, hold back on their giving,The New York Times reports.

The tight giving climate has been toughest on charities with a financial bent, like those that advise low-income borrowers and budding entrepreneurs, the newspaper says, since those groups often get a big share of their money from banks.

Citing The Chronicle‘s studies of corporate giving, the newspaper notes that the pool of financial donors has not recovered since the 2008 economic crisis caused Lehman Brothers to file for bankruptcy and Merrill Lynch to be taken over by Bank of America.

Even so, financial companies accounted for the largest amount of corporate cash donations in 2010, roughly $2.11-billion, according to the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy, a group of business leaders.