Andy Markowitz

McDonald’s has filed a trademark-infringement claim against a Chicago-area teenager who coordinates a Special Olympics fund-raiser called “McFest,” reports the Chicago Sun-Times.

Lauren McCluskey, 19, said she named the annual charity concert by high-school and college bands as a play on her own surname. The fast-food chain, which holds trademarks on a variety of “Mc”-related terms, challenged Ms. McCluskey’s attempt to register “McFest” with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

Ms. McCluskey, who said she has paid $5,000 in legal costs so far, has until February 5 to file a response to the McDonald’s challenge, with a trial set for December. A company spokeswoman said McDonald’s does not want to shut down the event and has offered to pay costs associated with renaming it.

A company that provides fund-raising software and services to some of the country’s biggest charities is trying for the second time to fill its own coffers with an initial public offering, reports the Associated Press.

Convio, in Austin, Tex., expects to raise about $57.5-million in the share sale, according to its filing Monday with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm attempted to go public in 2007, filing for an initial public offering worth up to $86.3-million, but it withdrew the registration the following year.

The company’s client list includes the American Cancer Society, the American Red Cross, Planned Parenthood, and the World Wildlife Fund. Convio lost $2.1-million last year, down from $3.7-million in 2008.

(Free registration is required to view this story on the New York Times site.)

With less money to spend amid the economic downturn, many philanthropic foundations are shifting to a more strategic giving strategy, focusing on fewer goals with larger grants, Crain’s Chicago Business reports.

More than three-quarters of respondents to a Foundation Center survey said they expect philanthropy to become more strategic as overall giving declines, with grant makers outlining a set of clear goals and supporting mainly larger organizations with administrations capable of tracking and reporting results.

The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit news organization, raised nearly $4-million last year, exceeding its goal by almost a half-million dollars, Editor & Publisher reports.

In a note to readers Monday, John Thornton, the venture capitalist who founded the Tribune last year, said the online news service started with 68 corporate sponsors, most of whom committed $2,500 each, and 1,500 individual donors. It is also earning income from selling content to other publications and has “ambitious goals” to expand paid subscriptions, he wrote.

Also on Monday, a nonprofit journalism site in Connecticut debuted with $1.8-million in foundation money, according to Poynter Online. Jim Cutie, the former New York Times executive who serves as the Connecticut Mirror’s chief operating officer, said the news and politics site has sufficient start-up money to operate for three years while seeking a sustainable business model.

Wyclef Jean’s Yele Haiti Foundation announced Friday that it has hired new accountants and will revamp its spending practices, reports The Washington Post. The group, among the biggest fund-raisers in the immediate aftermath of the quake, has come under fire over its administrative spending and payments to businesses controlled by Mr. Jean.

Humanitarian organizations are getting more vocal in their complaints about landing priorities at Port-au-Prince’s damaged airport, which is under U.S. Air Force control, reports The New York Times. The global medical charity Doctors Without Borders said last week that eight of its planes were diverted.

Playing a central role in the Haiti Relief Effort is Partners in Health, a 25-year-old group, says The Boston Globe. The charity raised $25-million in the first week after the earthquake and has seen its e-mail list grow more than five times, to 160,000.

(Free registration is required to view these articles.)