Robin Hood Pulls in More Than $68.5 Million at 2024 Annual Benefit Gala

NEW YORK, NY – Last night, more than 3,000 New Yorkers attended Robin Hood’s annual benefit at the Javits Center to power the philanthropy’s mission to fund opportunity and pathways out of poverty in New York City. The annual benefit raised $68.5 million, an increase of 6.5% in contributions over 2023’s annual event. Since 1988, Robin Hood has invested nearly $3 billion to help New Yorkers permanently escape poverty over the last three decades. 100% of the proceeds will fund local grantmaking to provide emergency food, permanent housing, high-quality education, job training and placement in high-growth sectors, access to benefits and legal services, and more as the number of New Yorkers living in poverty surges to 2 million.

This year’s benefit was co-chaired by CEO of Hellman & Friedman Patrick Healy, CEO of J.P. Morgan Wealth Management at JPMorgan Chase Kristin Lemkau, former New York Rangers goaltender Henrik Lundqvist, Global Head of Market Intelligence and Quant Research at Maven Investment Partners Nima Noorizadeh and Brooke & Steven Schonfeld of the Schonfeld Group.

Renowned sports television personality Stephen A. Smith welcomed guests into the benefit following a DJ set by Birttany Sky during the cocktail hour. Grammy Album of the Year award-winning folk rock band Mumford & Sons and comedian Nate Bargatze, hailed as “The Nicest Man in Stand-Up,” by The Atlantic delighted guests during the dinner ceremony. U.S. top streaming rapper and singer Post Malone electrified the Javits Center stage in the headlining performance.

Building on research that points to a correlation between strong school leadership and increased student achievement, Robin Hood, in collaboration with the Relay Graduate School of Education, announced Stronger Schools, Brighter Futures. The initiative scales a transformational leadership training program for superintendents and principals across New York City public schools.

“This was a magical night. Thousands of giving New Yorkers came together to support an education initiative that may one day substantively advance all 915,000 kids in public schools in New York. It starts from an enduring belief that where you start out in life should not determine where you end up. At Robin Hood, we believe in generosity, we believe in the potential of our neighbors, and we believe in the limitless possibilities when people are given a fair chance. I am immensely grateful to every donor of Robin Hood because each one is charting a bold new future for the City of New York,” said Paul Tudor Jones II, co-founder of Robin Hood.

More than half of all the money Robin Hood distributes in grants each year is raised at the Robin Hood annual benefit. While the proceeds raised is a triumph over poverty and hardship, the event itself is also a creative homage to the city Robin Hood serves and a massive event to produce.

“The Robin Hood Benefit is a night of purpose and possibility. The generosity of our supporters is critical to our mission of helping our neighbors on the path to economic opportunity, and building a more equitable New York City,” said Robin Hood CEO Richard R. Buery Jr. “We support hundreds of New York City’s most effective nonprofit organizations, and that would not be possible without nights like tonight.”

Robin Hood transformed more than 300,000 square feet of the Javits Center into a sensory journey. This event is powered by over 1,000 people working around the clock for 144 hours to build the space for over 3,000 guests. The cocktail hour was a world of black and white imagery, showing iconic New York City places and spaces. As guests transitioned to dinner the environment was flooded with color and the sentiment of hope. The programed dinner featured remarks from our CEO, Rich Buery, a performance by Mumford & Sons, and comedy from Nate Bargatze. After our fundraising moment, the room transitioned to the Post Malone concert. This year’s gala invited guests to imagine the future of New York City, a place of endless possibilities for all New Yorkers, including, and most especially for, the more than one out of every two New Yorkers (56%) who either live either in poverty or are considered low-income.

Robin Hood is New York City’s largest local poverty fighting philanthropy. It is the largest private funder of workforce development programs and a major mobilizer of relief efforts when crisis strikes the city – providing more than $250 million in aid following 9/11, Superstorm Sandy and the COVID-19 pandemic.   Robin Hood believes in investing in the most capable organizations, doing the most effective and innovative work, with the potential to scale, and, always, the ability to deliver measurable impact. Last year, Robin Hood distributed $117.6 million in poverty-fighting grants to 281 of the most impactful, community-based direct service organizations on the front lines of the poverty fight.

In 2023, Robin Hood funding was used to:

• POWER 2,300 new teacher graduates with computational thinking skills
• IMPROVE birth outcomes for 11,566 mothers and infants
• SUPPORT the rollout of a high-quality literacy curriculum to 365,000 students and 32,000 teachers in 1,000+ schools
• HELP over 70 high schools — 15% of all NYC public high schools — exceed average graduation rates of 81%
• REFER 9,234 children to early intervention services
• IMPROVE the quality of child care for 11,810 low-income children
• CONNECT 175,000 households — more than 300,000 individuals — to $130 million in lifesaving benefits
• HELP over 4,000 young adults gain jobs with hourly wages 40% higher than the minimum wage
• FUND City University of New York (CUNY) programs that served 14,400 young adults that helped to nearly double graduation rates from 30% to 55%

Partnering vendors who made this year’s annual benefit a success included:

Catering: Union Square Events (for guests); DEGA Catering (for production/crew)
Exclusive Beverage Sponsor: Casa Dragones
Choreography: Sarah O’Gleby ; Miss’iles
Creative, Decor, & Design: David Stark Design & Productions
Draping: Drape Kings
Table & Ticket Management: Event Associates Inc.
Printed Materials: Riverside Graphics
Lighting: 4Wall Entertainment Lighting ; Image SFX
Mobile Check-in & Pledging: Checkin Tech LLC; Smartsource; Yurgosky
Photography: Ronald Antonelli, Travis W Keyes
Production (Event, Show, & Technical): Nimblist
Production Staffing: Theatrical Resources; Pentwater Productions; Tait Production
Rentals: AFR; Call-A-Head; Dimitri Carpet; Party Rental Ltd.; Pete’s Big TVs; Precise Prompting; Productions on Point; Quixote; SGPS; Taylor Creative; United Rentals;
Rigging: 2XD Productions; C2W
Scenic: Atomic Design
Security, Health & Safety: GXC Inc.; K-Street Group; The Baghera Group
Sound: Clair Brothers Audio Systems
Staging: All Access
Talent Management: Marty Hom, Inc
Venue: Javits Center
Video: All Mobile Video; FUSE; Verona
Video Content: Long Story Short

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About Robin Hood:

Robin Hood is New York’s largest local poverty-fighting philanthropy. Last year, Robin Hood celebrated its 35th year of funding, supporting, and connecting New York’s most impactful community organizations at the forefront in the battle against poverty. We are NYC’s largest local poverty-fighting philanthropy and since 1988, we have invested nearly $3 billion to elevate and fuel New Yorkers’ permanent escapes from poverty. In 2023, through grantmaking with 250+ community partners, we created pathways to opportunities out of poverty through our strategic partnerships on child care, child poverty, jobs, living wages and more. We are scaling impact at a population level for the nearly 2 million New Yorkers living in poverty. At Robin Hood, we believe your starting point in life should not define where you end up. To learn more about our work and impact, follow us on X  @RobinHoodNYC or go to robinhood.org.

MEDIA CONTACT

Crystal Cooper, Deputy Director of Communications
press@robinhood.org