Gala Event Brings Hedge Fund Community Together to Help Children

The 9th Annual San Francisco Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit will take place at The Bently Reserve in San Francisco on April 28, 2010 from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. The event will raise money for charities dedicated to the prevention and support of abuse toward children. The benefit will include a silent auction, a golf raffle for the Bay Area’s finest golf courses, and appearances from the San Francisco 49ers’ players, coaches and cheerleaders.  This article provides an overview of the event and below we have reprinted a press release issued by the 49ers.

Venue

This year’s event will be held at The Bently Reserve, an eco-friendly conference center for corporate events, business meetings, and private gatherings. The center is equipped with various boardrooms and a historic banking hall that was originally a part of the 1924 Federal Reserve. It is located downtown near the Embarcadero on Battery Street. More than 10 wineries will be serving wine at the event, which will also have cocktails, food, and dessert stations.

Special Guests

The special guests in attendance this year will be the San Francisco 49ers, including the players, coaches, cheerleaders, and alumni. The team partners every year with Hedge Fund Cares to host the annual event to support non-profit child abuse services in the area. The 49ers have helped raise more than $1,000,000 at previous events.

Silent Auction and Golf Raffle

To help raise money, there will be over 50 items up for bidding during the silent auction (electronic brochure to be forthcoming). Companies who donate an item to be auctioned off will be featured in the benefit’s brochure and have their advertising materials displayed at the event. Silent auction donations often include dinners, wine, theater tickets, sporting tickets, vacation packages, golf certificates, spa certificates, and airline certificates. There will also be a golf raffle where there will be an opportunity to win a round on one the Bay Area’s best private golf courses. Raffle tickets will be sold individually for $20 or $100 for six tickets.

Special thanks to Nicole Goddard Photography for donating a professional photography session.  [Note: it is not too late to donate, purchase raffle tickets or purchase event tickets.]

New York’s Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit

While the West Coast event is taking place in April, the 12th Annual New York Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit took place on February 25, 2010 on East 42nd Street in Manhattan. The event, which had 1,100 attendees, topped its total earnings from last year’s event at $2 million.

Call to Action

For more information about the event, including how to register and donate items to the auction, please click here (http://www.hedgefundscare.org/event.asp?eventID=34). Your participation and donations are what make this important event successful every year.

About Hedge Funds Care

Founder Rob Davis established Hedge Funds Care in 1998 with the dream of helping to prevent and treat child abuse. With the encouragement and participation of his colleagues in the hedge fund industry, the first Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit took place in New York in February of 1999 and raised $542,000. What began as a single fundraiser has grown into an international nonprofit organization. Hedge Funds Care has distributed over $21 million through more than 600 grants. In 2010, annual benefits will take place in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, Toronto, London and the Cayman Islands. Through the ongoing generosity and commitment of hedge fund industry professionals, HFC continues its rapid expansion. We anticipate future growth to cities in the U.S. and abroad.

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 31, 2010

CONTACT: LISA GOODWIN
408-595-4957

HEDGE FUNDS CARE AND SAN FRANCISCO 49ERS FOUNDATION HOST 9th ANNUAL DINNER TO RAISE MONEY FOR CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION CHARITIES

49ers ownership and players to participate to raise funds

SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Hedge Funds Care will sponsor the 9th Annual West Coast “Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit” at The Bently Reserve in San Francisco on Wednesday, April 28th at 4:30 p.m. The event will feature a silent auction, raffle, and wine tasting from premier Napa and Sonoma Valley vineyards. San Francisco 49ers Owner John York will be accompanied by several 49ers players, along with 500 people from the West Coast hedge fund industry at this year’s dinner.

Funds raised by the event will be used to distribute grants to existing organizations that address child abuse treatment and prevention in the Bay Area.

“The 49ers Foundation’s mission is to keep kids safe, on track and in school,” said 49ers Owner John York. “The goal of Hedge Funds Care is to quell domestic violence and eradicate child abuse which fits directly with our mission. We have been a part of this event for the past nine years and are looking forward to continuing to raise money and awareness for our youth in need.”

After last year’s event, Dr. Bart Grossman from the University of California at Berkeley School of Social Welfare provided guidance to help Hedge Funds Care allocate funds raised to the following designated agencies: APA Family Support Services, CALICO Center, Community Violence Solutions, Compass Community Services, Contra Costa County Employment and Human Services Department, Edgewood Center for Children and Families, FamiliesFirst, First Place for Youth, La Casa de Las Madres, La Clínica de La Raza, Inc., The Link to Children, San Francisco Child Abuse Prevention Center, San Francisco Court Appointed Advocates, Shelter Network, The University of California – San Francisco, Child Trauma Research Project.

The co-chairs of this year’s West Coast Committee of Hearts, who plan the “Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit,” are Angela Osborne from Blackrock, Elisabeth MacKnight from Conifer Securities, and Todd Goldman from Rothstein Kass.

“We are excited to host this event in San Francisco and to partner with the 49ers Foundation for the ninth time,” Osborne said. “Last year’s event was a tremendous success, raising more than $650,000. We look forward to the continued support of the hedge fund industry for this very worthy cause.”

Hedge Funds Care is an industry alliance formed in 1998 with the sole mission of raising funds to prevent and treat child abuse. To date, the group has distributed over $21 million internationally through local agencies. In addition to the dinner in San Francisco, Hedge Funds Care also holds events in Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Denver, London, Toronto, Cayman Islands, and New York.

Money will be raised through ticket sales, a golf raffle, and a silent auction. Tables for 10 guests may be purchased for $15,000. Individual tickets are available for $1,750. There are also event corporate sponsorship opportunities. For more information, please call Dan Butchko at 212-991-9600 ext. 336.

About the 49ers Foundation The San Francisco 49ers Foundation is the non-profit community funding arm of the San Francisco 49ers. Now in its 19th year, the San Francisco 49ers Foundation supports development programs for underserved youth that “Keep Kids Safe, On Track and In School.” A significant portion of its funding goes toward family violence prevention and youth development programs that teach leadership and respect. Through the direction of team owners Denise and John York, the 49ers Foundation has raised and distributed over $10 million to non-profit organizations over the last eight years. For more information, visit www.49ers.com.

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Bart Mallon, Esq. runs the Hedge Fund Law Blog and provides legal services through Cole-Frieman & Mallon LLP He can be reached directly at 415-868-5345.