HBS Club Helps NY Non-Profits

The Harvard Business School Club of New York (HBSCNY) announced last week that it will donate more than $1 million to non-profit organizations, the biggest donation the club has made up to date.

Grants of $180,000 each will go to five education-oriented non-profits in the Greater New York area. The gift will provide another $200,000 for need-based scholarships at Harvard Business School (HBS), as well as full scholarships for two Harvard MBA students who focus on non-profit management.

The club’s members provide about $1 million worth of pro bono consulting every year, but this year marks the first time that HBSCNY will offer a gift approaching this size, along with its consulting services, according to HBSCNY President Bruce T. Marcus.

The extra money comes from over-subscription to the club’s main fundraising event, the HBSCNY Leadership Dinner.

Marcus said that the high attendance resulted from the large group of supporters and friends who came to hear the lead speakers at the dinner—Hamilton E. “Tony” James ’73, president of the Blackstone Group, and Agnes Gund, former president of the Museum of Modern Art.

And HBSCNY had no intention of holding on to the extra cash.

“We are not a foundation,” Marcus explained. “The agreement was that any excess funds would be given to educational non-profits in New York City.”

The club, which claims 13,000 HBS alumni as members, will make the donations official at a ceremony to be held at their 5th Avenue location at 4:30 p.m. today.

The five non-profit organizations receiving the grants are the Harlem Educational Activities Fund (HEAF), Public Education Needs Civic Involvement In Learning, Village Academies, Studio in a School, and ArtsConnection.

Before receiving the grant, HEAF had worked closely with six club members through the pro bono consulting program that HBSCNY offers.

“Since it was not the basis of our relationship with the club,” said president of HEAF Danielle Moss Lee, “this kind of generosity was completely unexpected.”

—Staff writer Daniela Nemerenco can be reached at dnemeren@fas.harvard.edu.