Tis the season of thanks and giving.
And hedge funds are actively involved in the spirit of the season all throughout the year. They are not just about trading and getting the best rate of return. They are also about compassion and charity.
The hedge fund industry cares about children.
Hedge Funds Cares is an umbrella organization with six U.S. chapters and others throughout the globe dedicated to helping prevent and treat child abuse. Throughout its Help for Children charity, an international organization, supported largely by the hedge fund industry, its sole mission is preventing and treating child abuse.
[See a Slidshow of Recent HFC Events]
HFC was founded by Rob Davis in 1998, who began his first career as a teacher where he encountered children right in his classroom who were obviously abused and/or seriously neglected. Davis is now a managing director at McAlinden Research Partners, an independent, global, investment strategy research company, with the mission of identifying actionable, investment themes early, for institutional and high net worth investors. He serves as Chairman Emeritus for HFC.
HFC has two goals: raise as much money as possible to fund the programs that do the preventing and treating; showcase the philanthropy of the hedge fund industry.
This mission is accomplished by raising money and granting it to child welfare organizations throughout the U.S, Canada, the Cayman Islands, and the United Kingdom. Help for Children is the only grant making public charity that focuses exclusively on funding this cause. Since its inception in 1998, Help for Children has awarded over 930 grants totaling more than $33 million.
HFC has awarded nearly $2.7 million in 2009, $3.3 million in 2010, $3.7 million in 2011 and $4.2 million in 2012.
In the U.S., fundraising events are currently held in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, Los Angeles, Miami, Minneapolis, New York, and San Francisco. Events are also held in Grand Cayman, London, Toronto, and Ireland. Money raised is distributed locally to community-based nonprofit organizations that address child abuse through education, prevention, interventions, research, advocacy and training.
