Wall Street Journal- Traditionally, the annual fund-raiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Massachusetts Bay was a staid affair: A string quartet played, Red Sox tickets were auctioned and empty seats abounded. The event was lucky to raise more than $200,000.
All that changed after several hedge-fund types joined the board of the nonprofit mentoring organization. This year the January bash was themed ’80s Prom Night and featured live music by Hall & Oates as well as a specially designated “make-out room.” Several board members came dressed in drag, including James Pallotta of the hedge fund Tudor Investment Corp. The event raised $1.8 million — $80,000 of which came from auctioning off a role in a coming Farrelly brothers movie.
Big-money financiers from hedge funds and private-equity firms have a new takeover target: the charity ball. As the wealth of hedge funds and other alternative investments soars, nonprofits from San Francisco to New York are trying to recruit the crowd for their own boards of directors.
