HEDGE FUND INDUSTRY RAISES NEARLY $2 MILLION TO PREVENT AND TREAT CHILD ABUSE

Hedge Fund Industry raises funds for Tri-State Area Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Programs at 16th Annual Hedge Funds Care New York ‘Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit’

 Hedge Funds Care/Help For Children (HFC), one of the most globally recognized charities backed by the hedge fund industry whose proceeds support non-profits focused on preventing and treating child abuse, raised nearly $2 million at its 16th Annual New York Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit last Thursday evening at Cipriani on 42nd Street. The gala brought together close to 1000 senior executives from some of the most prominent hedge fund managers including Marathon Asset Management, Angelo Gordon, Glenview Capital, Paloma Partners, Woodbine Capital, Samlyn Capital, Pershing Square Capital Management and many more. While attendees networked over cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, participated in the silent auction, and enjoyed the live entertainment, Marathon Asset Management CEO Bruce Richards was presented with the Award for Caring by former New York Yankees Manager and prior HFC Honoree Joe Torre.

 “I am honored to be the recipient of Hedge Funds Care’s ‘Award for Caring,’ and for Joe Torre who enters the Hall of Fame this summer to personally have presented this to me, made this a particularly special evening,” Richards said. “Hedge Funds Care has done great work to positively impact the lives of so many children worldwide and I am proud to be able to contribute to the organization’s amazing work.”

 “This is an evening that showcases so many hedge fund executives who all come together for one common cause: to prevent and treat child abuse,” said Dean Backer, President of HFC and Global Head of Sales and Capital Introductions in the Global Securities Services group at Goldman Sachs. “I can’t thank the hedge fund industry enough for all the help toward reaching our fundraising goal.”

 “The statistics of child abuse are astonishing: in the US, one in four girls and one in six boys is sexually abused by age 18, and further, there are 3.3 million reported incidents annually involving as many as six million children,” said Kathryn Conroy, Executive Director and CEO, HFC. “If it weren’t for the hedge fund industry’s support, we wouldn’t be able to fund so many programs and work toward our mission of preventing and treating child abuse.”

 The evening’s sponsors included Ernst & Young; KPMG; PricewaterhouseCoopers; BDO; Goldman Sachs; Deloitte; Rothstein Kass; Citco Fund Services; UBS; J.P. Morgan; Marathon Asset Management; Ellington Management Group; SAC Capital Advisors; Atlantic Investment Management; CACEIS Investor Services; Elliott Management; Fried Frank; Paloma Partners; Panning Capital Management; Pershing Square Capital Management; and Schulte, Roth &Zabel.

 About Help For Children

Help For Children (“HFC”), also known as Hedge Funds Care, is an international charity dedicated to funding programs focused on preventing and treating child abuse. Since its inception in 1998, HFC has awarded over 1,000 grants totaling more than $37 million. HFC is the only grant making public charity that focuses exclusively on funding this cause. Funds for HFC are raised through events in more than 11 cities in the US, the UK, Canada, and Cayman Islands, and granted to community organizations addressing this issue. HFC has occasionally singled out prominent individuals for their outstanding charitable support. Event honorees have included Michael Vranos, CEO of Ellington Management, Kenneth Tropin, Chairman of Graham Capital Management, Michael Novogratz, President of Fortress Investment Group, and former New York Yankees Manager Joe Torre. Previous Founders Award recipients include Lee Daniels, director of “Precious” and Sen. Scott Brown, author of “Against All Odds”, his own gripping biography of abuse.