Philanthropy is fueling the development of major commercial projects throughout the region, but due to the credit crisis and the turmoil in the stock market, in addition to major losses incurred by financial services firms, the big question now is whether nonprofits will be able to survive.

“The current conditions will have a significant effect on nonprofits’ fund-raising,” the president and CEO of the Mount Sinai Medical Center, Dr. Kenneth Davis, said. “Nevertheless, New Yorkers will continue to support worthwhile causes.”

The chairman of the board of Signature Bank, Scott Shay, the author of “Getting Our Groove Back — How to Energize American Jewry,” said: “A number of studies have been done on philanthropy and mega-giving in the United States. The largest focus of the wealthy in terms of mega-gifts is the building on campuses. There is a tremendous building boom on American campuses that rivals the major expansion of our universities in the post-World War II period. Almost half of the megagifts in the U.S. go to universities. “This trend will probably continue, as having a building, laboratory, sports center, or other facility on a major campus is a very safe philanthropic investment. The university usually has a substantial endowment, so it will continue in perpetuity, and it is likely that the facility itself will exist for one year in a well-maintained state to honor or memorialize the donor.”

He added: “Interestingly, these types of contributions frequently come late in major economic cycles from people who have cashed out at or near the top and thus provide some countercyclicality to the construction sector. However, if the real estate downturn persists, this ballast will tend to dissipate.”

Frankly, many observers of philanthropy believe that because of naming opportunities, too many philanthropic funds tend to go toward real estate, and not enough go toward operating funds and program services. During economic downtowns, social and education agencies are the ones who most need sources of operating funds.

“I am familiar with more than a few charitable organizations that are able to raise capital but run chronic deficits and are cutting back on services to the needy because of these phenomena,” Mr. Shay said.

Last week, the chairman of the New York Public Library, Catherine Marron, and the library’s president, Paul LeClerc, announced a $1 billion transformation plan, representing the greatest change to the library since its founding more than 100 years ago.

The $1 billion program will reconfigure the Central Library building on Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd streets, and calls for the construction of new libraries in Northern Manhattan and Staten Island. To help pay for the project, the New York Public Library is selling its Mid-Manhattan Library building on the corner of Fifth Avenue and 40th Street, which could be developed for office, residential, or hotel use.

At least half of the cost of the development program will come via philanthropy. The library has raised more than $250 million toward the $500 million goal, with the chairman, CEO, and co-founder of the Blackstone Group, Stephen Schwarzman, donating $100 million. Next month, the ground breaking will be held at Fordham University for two new seven-story residence halls that will replace a parking lot at its Rose Hill campus in the Bronx. One of the buildings will be known as Campbell Hall, named in recognition of Robert and Joan Campbell, both of whom graduated from Fordham. The Campbells recently contributed a $10 million gift, which is among the largest in the university’s history. The 166,000-square-foot building will accommodate 460 students. It is scheduled to open in June 2010.

In April, Southern California real estate developer Lawrence Field, an alumnus of Baruch College from 1952, will be the honoree at the 90th annual Bernard Baruch Dinner, where he will receive the college’s Distinguished Alumnus Award. Earlier this year, Baruch College’s president, Kathleen Waldron, announced a $10 million gift to the college from Mr. Field and his wife, Eris.

The gift, which will be administered through the Baruch College Fund, will support academic programs in entrepreneurship as well as the community outreach and research activities of the Field Center for Entrepreneurship.

Mr. Field is a native of the Bronx and the founder and principal of a real estate investment and development firm based in Los Angeles, NSB Associates.

Mr. Field has long been a generous supporter of his alma mater. His prior gifts to Baruch include $10 million to support the renovation of 17 Lexington Ave., Baruch College’s original home, as well as contributions for the Lawrence N. Field Center for Entrepreneurship and endowments of family chairs.

Last month, Dr. Jim Simons, the prominent financier and president of Renaissance Technologies, a private investment firm located in East Setauket, and his wife, Marilyn, the president of the Simons Foundation, is donating $60 million to Stony Brook University, the largest gift in the history of the university and the largest ever to any of the 64 universities in the State University of New York system. Mr. Simons is also a mathematician who once served as the chairman of Stony Brook’s Mathematics Department, and his wife holds a Ph.D. in economics from the school.

The gift will be used to construct and endow the Simons Center for Geometry and Physics on Stony Brook’s main campus on Long Island. In addition to funding the building’s construction, the gift will be used to recruit faculty and provide enhanced training and support for graduate students, research programs, and visiting scholars.

At Stony Brook, the Simons family and foundation have provided more than $85 million in contributions in support of number of academic initiatives.

The Simons gift comes as Stony Brook is conducting its $300 million capital campaign, “The Emergence of Stony Brook,” the first such program in the university’s history. The gift increases the total raised so far to more than $260 million.

June will mark the opening of the Michael F. Price Center for Genetic and Translational Medicine in the Harold and Muriel Block Research Pavilion at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. The center represents the largest medical research facility to be constructed in the Bronx since the College of Medicine opened in 1955. The building will house 40 state-of-the-art laboratories in addition to research support facilities and a 100-seat auditorium.

The building, which is expected to cost in excess of $200 million, is named in honor of Michael F. Price, as well as Muriel Block and her late husband, Harold.

Mr. Price is the donor of Einstein’s largest philanthropic gift to date, $25 million. Mrs. Block’s gift, valued at more than $21 million, is the second largest donation ever received by the medical school.

As reported in The New York Sun in October, Martha Stewart joined the ranks of donors to the Mount Sinai Hospital and Medical Center that include Carl Icahn and Henry Kravis, who have buildings named after them. She donated $5 million toward the new geriatric outpatient clinic on Madison Avenue and 99th Street.

Two major construction projects are planned for the Mount Sinai Medical Center, both funded partially by philanthropy. Later this spring, the new 170,000-square-foot ambulatory care center will open in the location of a former parking garage. Construction is scheduled to begin later this year for a new research facility.

Wall Street, financial sector, and real estate community representatives have been responsible for major financial support for nonprofits. Last June, Weill Medical College of Cornell University announced that it has received several major gifts totaling about $400 million, bringing it to the halfway mark of its $1.3 billion capital campaign.

The largest gift is for $250 million, from Joan and Sanford Weill. Additionally, they made a $50 million donation to Cornell University, the largest gift ever to the Ithaca campus from an individual to help fund its New Life Sciences Initiative. The combined $300 million is the largest gift to the university from a single individual. The couple and the Weill Family Foundation have given more than $500 million to the Weill Medical College.

Another major supporter of this campaign is Maurice Greenberg, a former chairman of the board of AIG International and chairman and CEO of C.V. Starr & Co. Mr. Greenberg and his wife, Corinne, gave $25 million, with another $25 million provided by the Starr Foundation.

As I reported in January, construction is under way in the Washington Heights section of Upper Manhattan on the new Heart Center at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University School of Medicine. The six-story, 142,000-square-foot building designed by Pei Cobb Freed & Partners was made possible by a $50 million gift from Vivian & Seymour Milstein family foundations, representing the largest single gift in the hospital’s history.

Another example of philanthropy from Wall Street is the Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital of New York Presbyterian, the city’s only children’s hospital, which opened in November 2003. The $120 million, 10-story, 265,000-square-foot hospital facility was funded entirely through philanthropy, including personal contributions of $55 million by more than 600 employees of Morgan Stanley. Other members of the New York City financial community, including JPMorgan Chase and a consortium of donors from Goldman Sachs, also made significant contributions to the hospital.

As of last April, $300 million had been raised toward the $350 million fund-raising goal to support capital and planning costs and the start of an endowment for the National September 11 Memorial & Museum to be built at the memorial quadrant at the World Trade Center site. Major contributors included The Starr Foundation at the $25 million level, with $15 million from Mayor Bloomberg, Deutsche Bank, and David Rockefeller. Ten contributions of $10 million each have been made, eight of which are from Wall Street firms, and other financial services organizations, including the American Express Foundation, American International Group, Bank of America, Bank of New York, Citigroup, the Goldman Sachs Charitable Fund, JPMorgan Chase Foundation, and Merrill Lynch & Co. Foundation.

In September 2006, Ronald Stanton, chairman of the board of one of the nation’s largest private corporations, Transammonia, which trades, distributes, and transports fertilizer materials, liquefied petroleum, gases, petrochemicals, and crude oil, announced a $100 million gift to Yeshiva University, where he was also once chairman of the board. The gift represented the largest single gift in North America in support of Jewish education and Jewish life.

I concur with Dr. Herbert Pardes, the president and CEO, of the New York Presbyterian Health System, when he says, “Even in these difficult times, New Yorkers and philanthropist will continue to support the efforts of the nonprofit community.” Without this needed support, many of the greatest projects in our wonderful city would never survive.

Mr. Stoler, a contributing editor to the Sun, is a television and radio broadcaster and a senior principal at a real estate investment fund. He can be reached at mstoler@newyorkrealestatetv.com