The Robin Hood Foundation is a charitable organization, which attempts to alleviate problems caused by poverty in New York

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, United States.

History

Founded in 1988, Robin Hood was the brainchild of hedge fund

Hedge fund

A hedge fund is a private pool of capital actively managed by an investment adviser. Hedge funds are only open for investment to a limited number of accredited or qualified investors who meet criteria set by regulators. These investors can be institutions, such as pension funds, university...

 manager Paul Tudor Jones

Paul Tudor Jones

Paul Tudor Jones II , is the founder of Tudor Investment Corporation, which is the management company for his various private investment partnerships, also referred to as hedge funds. As of March 2011, he was estimated to have a net worth of USD 3.3 billion by Forbes Magazine and ranked as 336th...

. In 2006, the board of directors included such names as Jeffrey Immelt, Diane Sawyer

Diane Sawyer

Lila Diane Sawyer is the current anchor of ABC News' flagship program, ABC World News. Previously, Sawyer had been co-anchor of ABC Newss morning news program, Good Morning America ....

, Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein

Harvey Weinstein, CBE is an American film producer and movie studio chairman. He is best known as co-founder of Miramax Films. He and his brother Bob have been co-chairmen of The Weinstein Company, their film production company, since 2005...

, Marie-Josee Kravis, Lloyd Blankfein

Lloyd Blankfein

Lloyd Craig Blankfein is an American business executive. He is currently the CEO and Chairman of Goldman Sachs. He has been in this position since the May 31, 2006 nomination of former CEO Henry Paulson as Secretary of the Treasury under George W...

, of Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...

, Richard S. Fuld, Jr., formerly of Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. was a global financial services firm. Before declaring bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth largest investment bank in the USA , doing business in investment banking, equity and fixed-income sales and trading Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (former NYSE ticker...

, Glenn Dubin

Glenn Dubin

Glenn Dubin is the Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Highbridge Capital Management, an alternative asset management company based in New York City, and a founding board member of the Robin Hood Foundation.-Personal life:...

, of Highbridge Capital, Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman

Marian Wright Edelman is an American activist for the rights of children. She is president and founder of the Children's Defense Fund.-Early years:...

 and actress Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Kate Paltrow is an American actress and singer. She made her acting debut on stage in 1990 and started appearing in films in 1991. After appearing in several films throughout the decade, Paltrow gained early notice for her work in films such as Se7en and Emma...

. The foundation combines investment principles and philanthropy to assist programs that target poverty in New York City. Artists including The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones are an English rock band, formed in London in April 1962 by Brian Jones , Ian Stewart , Mick Jagger , and Keith Richards . Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early line-up...

, Robert Plant

Robert Plant

Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...

 & The Strange Sensation

Strange Sensation

The Strange Sensation is Robert Plant's backing band, formed during his nine year break from solo recording. After 1993's Fate of Nations, Plant teamed up with former Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page to form Page and Plant...

, Shakira

Shakira

Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll , known professionally as Shakira , is a Colombian singer who emerged in the music scene of Colombia and Latin America in the early 1990s...

, John Legend

John Legend

John Roger Stephens , better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer, musician, and actor. He is the recipient of nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career...

, The Black Eyed Peas

The Black Eyed Peas

The Black Eyed Peas are an American pop group , formed in Los Angeles, California, in 1995. The group includes rappers will.i.am, apl.de.ap, and Taboo, and singer Fergie. Since the release of their third album Elephunk in 2003, the group has sold an estimated 56 million records worldwide...

, Lady Gaga

Lady GaGa

Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...

, The Who

The Who

The Who are an English rock band formed in 1964 by Roger Daltrey , Pete Townshend , John Entwistle and Keith Moon . They became known for energetic live performances which often included instrument destruction...

 and Aerosmith

Aerosmith

Aerosmith is an American rock band, sometimes referred to as "The Bad Boys from Boston" and "America's Greatest Rock and Roll Band". Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many...

 have performed at the group's annual galas.

In 2009, George Soros

George Soros

George Soros is a Hungarian-American business magnate, investor, philosopher, and philanthropist. He is the chairman of Soros Fund Management. Soros supports progressive-liberal causes...

 gave the foundation a US$50 million contribution. The money reportedly helped the organization raise significantly more than that amount.

Approach

According to Fortune Magazine, "Robin Hood was a pioneer in what is now called venture philanthropy, or charity that embraces free-market forces. An early practitioner of using metrics to measure the effectiveness of grants, it is a place where strategies to alleviate urban poverty are hotly debated, ineffectual plans are coldly discarded, and its staff of 66 hatches radical new ideas."

More specifically, the foundation states that it applies the following principles:

• Give 100 percent of every donation directly to programs helping poor New Yorkers.
• Identify and stop poverty at its roots.
• Protect and leverage Robin Hood’s investments by using sound business principles to help programs become more effective.
• Use metrics and qualitative data to evaluate programs and measure results to compare the relative poverty-fighting success of similar programs.

Programs

The Robin Hood Foundation works with more than 240 nonprofit organizations in New York. They categorize their programs into "Core fund recipients" and "Relief fund recipients". Core fund recipients consist of four portfolios; early childhood, education, jobs and economic security, and survival. Relief fund recipients established to assist low income victims of the 9/11 attacks address employment, lower income victims' services and relief, mental health services in addition to other grants.

Critical reception

The Robin Hood Foundation was featured in Fortune

Fortune (magazine)

Fortune is a global business magazine published by Time Inc. Founded by Henry Luce in 1930, the publishing business, consisting of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, grew to become Time Warner. In turn, AOL grew as it acquired Time Warner in 2000 when Time Warner was the world's largest...

's 18 September 2006 issue, where the article states that the foundation is "one of the most innovative and influential philanthropic organizations of our time."