Robin Hood Foundation
Venture Philanthropy for Poverty
New York, USA
The Robin Hood Foundation was started in 1988 by
hedge fund manager Paul Tudor Jones. It currently funds
200 out of the 27,000 anti-poverty organisations in New
York City. It has played a significant role in distributing
disaster relief funding to victims of Hurricane Sandy.
One of its most notable practices is that every year, the
foundation discontinues funding for the lowest
performing 5-10% of organisations or projects in its
portfolio.
Objective
Although New York City is one of the richest cities
in the world, about 20% of its population live in
poverty.
Emergency food: Approximately 1.4 million
people – out of its 8.2 million in population – rely
on soup kitchens and food pantries for their
meals. To make matters worse, the working poor
accounts for a significant proportion of the
population reliant on emergency food: about 1
out of 5 people (21%) who stand in line for
emergency food are employed – among them,
57% of them are employed full-time.
Children in poverty: According to a report by the
Citizens' Committee for Children, released in
February 2013, one third of all children in New
York City are in poverty. According to Robin Hood
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Foundation, 40,000 schoolchildren in NYC are
homeless. Poverty appears to be correlated to
subpar educational achievements: Only half of
NYC students grades 3 through 8 (age 8 to 13)
meet state standards for English and
mathematics proficiency.
A perpetuating cycle of poverty: 365,000 New
Yorkers are unemployed, and most of them
uninsured. At the same time, they are much more
prone to chronic illnesses. Low income New
Yorkers are twice as likely as high income New
Yorkers to have diabetes.
The Need for Further Effectiveness: There are
27,000 poverty fighting organisations in New York
City, but poverty levels have remained the same,
if not worsened, over the past decade.
Model
Robin Hood Foundation embodies the venture
philanthropy model in tackling poverty issues. It
applies the principles of financial investment to
the grant process. Impact is the main criterion for
receiving funding – grants are allocated to
maximize impact, in the same way that a financial
manager chooses investments to maximize profit.
Potential grantees are required to set specific,
quantifiable goals and to achieve them in a
certain time frame. Every year, the lowest
performing 5-10% of grantees are at risk of
having their funding withdrawn.
Similar to the portfolio companies of a private
equity fund, grantees who perform well receive
additional resources to scale up their operations.
Additional support comes in the form of pro bono
services from the partners of the Robin Hood
Foundation, and includes strategic planning,
marketing, finance, technology and legal
assistance.
childhood education as one of its focuses. It has
found that attending pre-kindergarten (pre-K)
programmes increases the chance of high school
graduation by 15%. Robin Hood invests in pre -K
programmes designed to fight poverty at the
earliest age possible. According to Robin Hood
Foundation, pre-K programmes “[reverse] speech
and language delays and [ensure] that children
are better prepared to learn in kindergarten and
beyond.”
The vast financial resources available for the
Robin Hood Foundation allow the organisation to
take a more comprehensive and multi-pronged
approach in tackling poverty. For example, in its
work of enhancing economic security, apart from
job training it also funds and supports the growth
of programmes that provide the poor with
financial and legal counselling, free banking
services, and loans and technical guidance in
starting a business.
Based on a data-heavy and results-oriented
approach, Robin Hood has identified early
Impact
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55,000 students reached by Robin Hood's education initiatives in 2011.
12,000 individuals received job training.
Over 5 million meals provided yearly.
35,000 New Yorkers received health care services from Robin Hood grantees.
According to Robin Hood Foundation:
 “92% of people who enter a Robin Hood funded housing programme do not return to shelters.”
 “Robin Hood programmes increase the chance of passing the GED [secondary school qualification]
by 75%.”
 “Robin Hood's job training programmes are twice as effective as others, yielding higher salaries and
job retention rates than other city funded programmes.”
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Impact Continued
At least two organisations in the US, Boston Rising in Boston and Tipping Point in San Francisco, have be en
modelled after Robin Hood Foundation, with varied success. The focus on continuous fundraising has
proven to be a key factor to success of the venture philanthropy model.
The work of Robin Hood Foundation had been questioned because of its high society affiliations. The way it
invests its funds, which involves hedge funds and management fees paid out to fund managers, has also
come under scrutiny. However, none of these criticisms has proven to have a long-term negative effect on
the strong and rising reputation of Robin Hood Foundation.
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Sources:
Robin Hood Foundation website, http://www.robinhood.org.
"Modern day Robin Hood applies business skills to philanthropy”, CBS '60 Minutes' feature,
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=50146230n, May 5, 2013.
"One third of NYC children live in poverty, says report”, The Queens Courier, Feb 13, 2013,
http://queenscourier.com/2013/study-one-third-of-nyc-children-live-in-poverty/.
“Rising and Falling”, The Boston Globe, June 9, 2013, http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/06/08/rising-andfalling/6xTtnkeTj0frxJyxFPIpvJ/story.html.
“Altruist's latest gift is a wake-up call,” Sydney Morning Herald, June 11, 2013, http://www.smh.com.au/national/altruistslatest-gift-is-a-wakeup-call-20130610-2o05l.html.
Frank, Robert, "Is Robin Hood Robbing the Poor?”, Wall Street Journal, July 18, 2007,
http://blogs.wsj.com/wealth/2007/07/18/is-robin-hood-robbing-the-poor/
Gordon, Meryl, “The Green Team”, New York Magazine, 2000 (Date not specified).
http://nymag.com/nymetro/news/culture/features/3374/
Levin, Bess, “Robin Hood Fund Pulls Investment from Hedge Fund Managers”, Dealbreaker, 19 July 2007,
http://dealbreaker.com/robin-hood-foundation/.
Community Business (CB) is a unique
membership based non-profit organisation
dedicated to advancing Corporate Social
Responsibility (CSR) in Asia. Our mission is
clear: to lead, inspire and support businesses
to improve their positive impact on people
and communities.
We work with some of the world’s leading
companies along their CSR journey and
specifically focus on four key areas of CSR:
Community Investment (CI), Work-Life
Balance (WLB), Diversity and Inclusion (D&I)
and CSR Strategy.
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Business Action on Poverty is an initiative
launched by Community Business and its
member companies. Represented by senior
level executives, this group of companies has
committed to a long-term strategy focused on
impacting positive change towards the
alleviation of poverty in Hong Kong.
For more information about our program
please visit:
http://www.businessactiononpoverty.org.hk
Or Contact:
BAOP@communitybusiness.org