Fund Managers Increasingly Charity-Friendly

As hedge fund wealth asserts itself in real estate and rare art, it is also reverberating through New York's philanthropic organizations. To the delight of fund-raisers, the success of hedge funds is creating a new pool of wealthy donors worth tens of millions, even hundreds of millions, of dollars, according to the New York Times.

For example, Jamie Niven of Sotheby's was recently responsible for dispensing with a Ford Mustang that was a door prize at the Robin Hood Ball, a charity event in New York that is dominated by wealthy hedge fund managers. But the accountant, who initially won it in a raffle, immediately donated it back. When Niven tried to auction it, those winners did the same. Finally, he insisted on giving the Mustang to the next bidder for $50,000. The car brought in a total of $390,000.