New York Times- Even in charity, the titans of hedge funds and private equity do nothing small.

At the 2007 Robin Hood benefit this week, two people paid $400,000 each to sing a song with Aerosmith. A package that includes dinner for 10 with Mario Batali fetched $1.3 million. An all-expenses-paid trip to the Olympics in China that includes hanging out with the “Today” host Matt Lauer and meeting a member of the United States women’s soccer team went for $2.2 million.

“It was an evening of excess,” said a hedge fund manager who asked not to be identified. “Celebrity excess, charity excess. The scale of everything was just amazing.”

The markets have been kind, and the tycoons of modern finance were harnessing their competitive spirit toward giving money rather than getting it.

The event raised $71 million, up 32 percent from a year ago, in what was a display of gilded age excess.

“It was overwhelming,” said Glenn Dubin, co-founder of Highbridge Capital and a founding board member of Robin Hood. “There was a feeling of social responsibility and philanthropy in the room that was palpable.” In an era where 25 money managers can accumulate $14 billion in one year and private jets fail to inspire awe, Wednesday night’s results aptly conjured up a bit of amazement.

Superlatives peppered the descriptions of the evening’s events, from the wealth represented in the room, the contents of the packages being auctioned or the wealth being donated.

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