Buffini & Co. partnered with Habitat for Humanity to help build four homes for Hurricane Katrina victims.

The San Diego Social Venture Partners has given the Angels Foster Family Agency and La Cuna more than $500,000 in grants and in-kind business consulting services. Both organizations place foster babies and toddlers into safe, loving homes. The money will help increase public awareness of their services, assist in strategic planning and business development, raise additional funding and strengthen the growth and influence of the organizations.

The Ellen Browning Scripps Foundation gave a grant of $25,000 to the San Diego Humane Society. The grant will be used to update the Humane Society’s animal tracking database, Shelter Buddy. The software system will help the Humane Society perform more efficiently, benefiting animals, volunteers, clients and staff.

Waste Management of North County donated $10,000 to the Oceanside Museum of Art for expansion. With this gift, the museum is now within $70,000 of its goal of raising $5.35 million for expansion. Groundbreaking of phase one is scheduled for September.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation of San Diego hosted the fourth annual Wags for Wishes event at the Del Mar Horsepark. The event raised more than $115,000, which will be used to grant wishes to children who are battling life-threatening illnesses. More than 16 wishes will be granted with the funds that were raised. Wags sponsors included the San Diego County Credit Union, Nokia, 10,000 RV, UAW-GM and News Radio 600 KOGO.

Makua, Friends of Voices for Children, hosted Pirates of the Caribbean, a fund-raiser that collected $115,000 to help benefit the children the organization helps. The organization is devoted to helping abused, neglected and abandoned children who have been removed from their homes and placed under the protection of Juvenile Court. Bank of the West was a major sponsor, contributing $15,000. Other sponsors included Baldwin Pacific, Oliver McMillan, San Diego National Bank, North American Communications and Jessop’s Jewelers.

Buffini & Co. recently partnered with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge, La., to build four homes for families affected by Hurricane Katrina. More than 250 of Buffini & Co.’s staff and clients from around the country, operating under the name Hands of Hope, traveled to Baton Rouge to help build the homes.

Rebuilding Together San Diego; the San Diego Building Trades Council; the San Diego County Cement Masons union; the San Diego-Imperial Counties Labor Council; Hammer Construction and Development, plumbers; the Carpenters Apprentice Program; and numerous other trades joined together to renovate David Martins’ home. The U.S. Army soldier, who returned home from a second tour of duty in Iraq, was struck in the back by stray bullets while sitting in a parked car in a parking lot near Fort Benning in Georgia. The incident left him paralyzed from the waist down, making it necessary for modified living arrangements in his San Diego home. The renovations, which were estimated at $20,000, included installing two permanent wheelchair ramps, converting the bathroom to meet Americans with Disabilities Act standards, painting and replacing the carpet.

The Mo’olelo Performing Arts Company has received donations totaling more than $25,000 to help the production of “Since Africa” and “My Home,” an after-school literacy and theater program. Local companies and organizations that donated include Qualcomm, which contributed $7,500; Sempra Energy, $2,500; Wells Fargo Foundation, $1,200; and Union Bank of California, $750. Individuals also made donations.

The Corky McMillin Cos. raised more than $40,000 in the first week of its companywide San Diego Heart Walk fund-raising campaign. Companies and families may participate by forming teams of walkers who obtain pledges on behalf of the American Heart Association.

The Century Club of San Diego, organizers of the Buick Invitational PGA golf tournament, gave $468,000 to the Boys & Girls Clubs of San Dieguito. Since the tournament moved to Torrey Pines Golf Course in 1968, the Century Club has donated millions to local charities. The 2006 Buick Invitational set a record of $2 million being donated to more than 150 San Diego-based organizations and high schools from the net proceeds of the tournament.

Giving is a feature in the Business Journal that highlights donations, contributions and good deeds of the people who make up San Diego’s business community. Please send information to Stacey Bengtson at sbengtson@sdbj.com. San Diego philanthropist Joyce Glazer is a regular contributor to the Giving column. Please contact her at jglazer@sdbj.com.