Giving to the Poor

I was watching Bloomberg News when they highlighted this amazing gala that took place last evening in New York City, which immediately attracted my attention. The Robin Hood Gala was attended by the top hedge fund managers and corporate CEOs in the world, and this event raised ...$101 million in one night! Oprah Winfrey and Gayle King were also in the house with a host of other wealthy personalities.

The Robin Hood Foundation's mission is to raise money to Fight Poverty. This was interesting to me because I wrote a story last week blasting the wealthy for not giving more to help eradicate poverty in America. And the Robin Hood Foundation does exactly what I criticized the rich for not doing. Hedge Fund manager, David Saltzman, is one of the five founders of the Robin Hood Foundation, which was created in 1988. The Robin Hood Foundation attracts attention for developing the innovative “venture philanthropy” approach to giving.

My $101 million question is where does all that money go? If Americans have falling deeper into poverty then ever before; and if data shows, the rich and poor gap is widening - what significant difference is the loot doing to slow down the rate of poverty, at least in New York?

Robin Hood (www.robinhood.org) is a charitable organization that combines investment principles and philanthropy to assist programs that target poverty in NYC. The board of directors includes Jeffrey Immelt, Brian Williams, Harvey Weinstein, and actress Gwyneth Paltrow. Working with more than 200 nonprofit organizations in New York, their core fund recipients consist of four specialties: Early Childhood, Jobs & Economic Security, Education, and Survival.

There has been major complaints against not just this organization, but its core associates who are among the world's riches who pay less taxes than someone who's driving a bus, in terms of percentage (15%). But its founders defend the hedge fund community, who top five managers made more last year than all the kinder-garden teachers combined in America.

Robin Hood representatives say they want to do more. "It is frustrating that we can’t move faster, but I get to go to bed every night knowing we have made a huge difference in poor people’s lives, and that children have a better shot at leading full, successful lives as a result of our work," says Saltzman.

I truly don't know how to feel about this. I love the fact that these individuals come together to raise tons of loot. But then as I look around and still see systematic and long standing racism and poverty, it's hard to see how these wealthy people really have concerns to close the poverty gap in America when communities continue to see hopelessness. Peace and One Love.

I Write to Differ...