Financial luminaries join forces to raise over $2.8 million to support youth-focused grassroots nonprofits in New York City
NEW YORK, Nov. 15, 2018 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Youth INC, a nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of New York City youth, held its 24th Annual "Celebration to Benefit New York Kids" Gala in New York City. The event marks the culmination of Youth INC's year-long Celebration Fundraising Training Program.
Youth INC provides training and coaching at no charge to grassroots, youth-focused nonprofits in its network to engage new supporters and raise more funds to fuel their work. This enables them to deliver more opportunities to NYC kids. Since 1994, Youth INC has raised over $85 million to empower 170 nonprofits that have collectively impacted 1 million NYC kids.
Youth INC bridges the business community with the social impact sector. “Our 80 nonprofit partners create access to opportunity for over 220,000 New York City kids and help build their character so they can achieve their full potential.” said Rehana Farrell, executive director of Youth INC. “Our work to invest in and accelerate these 80 amazing organizations would not be possible without our incredibly committed Board of Directors and National Advisory Board, or our elite community of generous sponsors.”
In addition to the Gala, a private dinner was held for Youth INC supporters honoring Dhananjay Pai, Managing Partner, President and Chief Operating Officer at P. Schoenfeld Asset Management, and George Stamas, Partner of Gibson Dunn, with the John C. Whitehead Leadership Award in recognition for their dedication to improving the lives of New York City youth.
“Many of us here are in finance and we all know that leverage can enhance returns. Youth INC allows us to leverage our impact across multiple organizations across all age groups in every corner of this city,” said Dhan Pai. “John Whitehead is an inspiration to all of us and he left many legacies, one of which is his never-ending support for Youth INC and the children of this city. I am humbled and honored to accept the John C. Whitehead Award.”
George Stamas noted that he was not the hero of the evening, but rather the nonprofits working with our city’s youth are the real heroes. George exalted, “Axios!” to everyone in recognition for their generous contributions, which translates to ‘you are worthy.’ George stressed how important ‘philanthropia,’ or the ‘love of mankind’ is to everyone and asked all present to join the Youth INC circle of supporters to invest in our shared community.
Dinner Vice-Chairs included Jeffrey R. Holzschuh (Morgan Stanley), Alexander Navab (Navab Holdings), Stephen K. Orr (Orr Group), Rick Schifter (TPG Capital), Ted Virtue (MidOcean Partners), John E. Waldron (Goldman Sachs), and Jonathan G. Weiss (Wells Fargo & Company). An additional eleven Youth INC Board Members served as Dinner Co-Chairs: James Christopoulos (CVC Capital), William Q. Derrough (Moelis & Company), Stratton Heath (Oak Hill Capital Partners), Douglas Kaden, Amy Miller (Scotiabank), A.J. Murphy (Silver Lake Partners), Daniel Pine, Stancel Riley, David Tayeh (Investcorp), Wray Thorn (Sightway Capital), and Evan Wildstein (Kohlberg & Company). Benefit Committee Members included Lauren Dillard (The Carlyle Group), Emmett McCann (Oaktree Capital), Kathleen Metinko (Deloitte), David Purdue (PJT Partners), and Karen Beldy Torborg (Marsh Inc.).
This year's participating organizations included: 826NYC, Adoptive and Foster Family Coalition, America SCORES New York, Beam Center, George Jackson Academy, Highbridge Voices, I Challenge Myself, Roads to Success, Saint Barnabas High School, Writopia Lab.
To learn more about Youth INC, visits www.youthinc-usa.org.
Contact:
Vanessa Marquez
vmarquez@youthinc-usa.org
(212) 401-4049
About Youth INC
Youth INC’s mission is to transform the lives of NYC youth by empowering the organizations that serve them. Youth INC’s network of 80 grassroots nonprofits collectively champion the lives of more than 220,000 young people across New York City. Youth INC provides our nonprofit partners with the coaching, capital and connections to achieve sustainable growth and maximize their impact. Our fundraising, governance and impact evaluation programs yield incredible results. Over the course of a partnership with Youth INC, our partners experience average growth in revenue of 173%, board size of 33%, and youth served of 157%. Using our pioneering Metrics Platform, our partners helped 80% of their young people surveyed to improve key Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills that scholars agree are the most predictive indicators of success in school, career and life. Since inception, our venture philanthropy model has raised over $85 million and empowered over 170 nonprofits, impacting the lives of 1 million NYC youth.