Cityfile: New York's Most Notable and Influential

Queens Will Have to Wait Its Turn | When political insiders suggested yesterday that the mayor pay more attention to places outside of Manhattan's toniest precincts, they probably didn't have Russia or China in mind. But both those countries are expected to benefit from Mike Bloomberg's latest charitable donation, a $125 million gift designed to improve road conditions in 10 developing countries around the world. But he'll get to this next. Don't you worry. [WSJ]

Goldman Sachs is on track to turn in its most profitable year ever, and the bank's near collapse last fall—along with the financial system as a whole—is quickly becoming a distant memory for Goldman chief Lloyd Blankfein. So why is he giving less money to charity than he did before the downturn?More

Madonna's Only Charity Case Is Jesus Luz | Madonna dropped $32.5 million on a townhouse on the Upper East Side a few months ago. But don't expect to see her giving out spare change to panhandlers in the neighborhood. Despite the fact she made about a gazillion dollars last year (give or take), Madge only gave away $459,000 to charity and almost all of it went to the Kabbalah Centre, which means she didn't give any money to charity at all, really.More

Goldman Sachs announced plans last week to donate $200 million to charity, a move designed to quell criticism over the firm's massive profits (and the massive bonuses that will soon handed out to the bank's employees). The donation isn't a gigantic sum for the investment bank—Goldman makes $200 million every three days or so—but it's a big step up from last year when the largest of the Goldman-affiliated foundations gave out about $12 million. So which non-profit groups stand to benefit the most from the firm's increased largesse? The institutions that Goldman wrote checks to last year runs about 25 pages. (You're welcome to go through it yourself; it's embedded below.) We focused on the dozens of elite private schools and fancy boarding schools that made the cut, a list you can review after the jump. But before you go out and start piecing together a conspiracy theory, we'll point out that the school that Goldman CEO Lloyd Blankfein's two sons (and his wife) attended wasn't anywhere close to the top. (Ethical Culture/Fieldston received a measly $10,000.) And as for Dalton, which is pictured above, it didn't get a dime. More

The city budget may prevent Mayor Bloomberg from paying his employees what he'd really like to give them for their service and dedication. But he has other ways to make up the difference. According to today's Times, the mayor recently made a $1 million donation to Franklin & Marshall College in Pennsylvania—to stamp the name of his deputy mayor, Patti Harris, on the front of a new academic center.More

These are uncertain times for Condé Nast. McKinsey consultants are now scouring company budgets looking for fat to trim. And staffers are now getting acclimated to a world in which they're expected to subsist on room temperature Poland Spring, not chilled Fiji water or sparkling citrus beverages in round little bottles. It hasn't been a walk in the park for Condé Nast chairman Si Newhouse, of course. Over the past year, he's probably seen several billion dollars of his net worth evaporate. And his private foundation—a vehicle he's used over the years to shower hundreds of millions of dollars on art institutions, hospitals, libraries, and his alma mater, Syracuse University—hasn't been immune either.  More

The High Line opened to the public a couple of months ago. And it's a delight, isn't it? Unfortunately, it appears the park is a little too delightful since four times as many people have been stopping to visit than Friends of the High Line originally anticipated. And now maintenance costs have gone through the roof, so the group is now looking to tax local residents to make up the difference.More

Jeffrey Epstein was released from a Florida prison last week for soliciting underage girls for sex, which means he is now free to pursue the "philanthropic endeavors" that his lawyer says he's been eager to get back to. What these good deeds will consist of isn't clear, but perhaps one item on the agenda will be focusing his attention on "exonerating the wrongfully convicted" and "reforming the criminal justice system to prevent future injustice"? More

Donatella Versace graced New York City with her royal presence this week. The reason for her visit? She was here to preside at the opening of Art Unites, a program created in conjunction with the Whitney that is giving out art supplies to 1,400 seriously ill children around the world. The kids use the materials to make art work; their pieces then get turned into special edition Versace tote bags, which are sold to the public with the proceeds going back to non-profit. It's a fine cause, of course. But did event organizers really have to subject these sick kids to physical contact with Donatella? Haven't they been through enough as it is? A collection of unfortunate kids subjected to the Donatella's frightening embrace after the jump.More

It hasn't been a fun ride for hedge fund manager Phil Falcone since he picked up 20 percent of the New York Times Co. a couple of years ago. He had to face off against the ruling Sulzberger clan for representation on the board of directors and the company's plunging stock price means his investment in the paper is now worth a few hundred million less than it once was. Today, however, he gets his money worth with a Times profile of his beloved bride, Lisa Maria Falcone, who, as the title of the piece informs us, is a "philanthropist with a sense of timing." Indeed!More

What would you do if your dad handed you a check for $5 million and told you to give it away to the charities of your choosing? (You'd probably buy a massive apartment and inform your dad that by investing in the New York's real estate market during these difficult economic times, you were actually performing an act of charity, wouldn't you?)

Last year, Michael Bloomberg turned over $5 million to The Bloomberg Sisters Foundation. So what did daughters Emma and Georgina do with the cash? As you can see for yourself below, not very much. The Bloomberg sisters parceled out $75,000 to a dozen charities and parked the remaining $4.925 million in the bank. (They're Bank of America customers, in case you're wondering.) No need to hold back, ladies. Go out and give it away. You don't need us to tell you this, but there's plenty more where that came from!More

Hedge fund mogul Phil Falcone hasn't had the easiest stretch as of late. The $500 million he plunked down for a 19 percent stake in the New York Times? The value of his shares have plummeted by nearly two-thirds over the past few months as the paper has struggled to remain solvent. And his recent efforts to dominate the charity circuit haven't worked out as well as he might have liked either. Last week, in what was either a very bold act of generosity or an effort to steal the limelight, Falcone and his wife Lisa announced plans to donate $10 million to the High Line, just days before the railway-turned-park was officially unveiled to the public. Unfortunately for Phil, his sizeable check still didn't entitle him to a front-row spot at the yesterday's official ribbon-cutting ceremony. So Phil did what he had to do to insure his pair of scissors was put to use (and his $10 million didn't go to waste). Evidence of Phil's brash power move below.More

The High Line, the elevated railway turned public promenade, opened last night to a select group of donors and supporters. Before the gala kicked off, Diane von Furstenberg and Barry Diller issued a challenge grant, promising to donate $10 million to the walkway if someone else came along and matched it. Hedge fund mogul Phil Falcone and his wife Lisa delivered, and while it's still unclear when the public park will actually be public—rumor has it that it may just be a matter of days now—in the meantime, venture capitalist Fred Wilson was good enough to bring a camera along to last night's event so we can all get a little peek at what's in store.

$10 Million Gift for High Line Project [NYT]
The High Line Set [Flickr via Curbed]

The Robin Hood Foundation's spring fundraiser took place last night at the Jacob Javitz Convention Center and some 3,200 people turned up to munch on grilled shrimp and chicken Milanese, mingle with the likes of Oprah and Anne Hathaway, and open their wallets and give to the non-profit that funnels millions of dollars a year to worthy causes across the city. The mood was a bit subdued this year, which isn't surprising considering Robin Hood remains the charity of choice for a big bunch of Wall Street chiefs and hedge fund titans like Dan Och, Steve Cohen, and Paul Tudor Jones. To reflect the mood, the lavish auction items that were a staple in previous years weren't part of the program this time around. But emcee Jon Stewart managed to keep the crowd laughing with Bernie Madoff jokes, and George Soros gave the evening a big boost by making a $50 million pledge. (The organization collected a total of $72 million last night, up from $56 million last spring.) Coverage of the event can be found here, here, and here. For a slightly more informal take on the evening, a brief dispatch from the wife of a hedge fund manager is below.More

It's been a rough stretch for every banking CEO, and Goldman Sachs chief Lloyd Blankfein is no exception. While he did very well for himself in 2007—he took home a total of $67 million—he opted to forgo a bonus in 2008, and the $465 million in Goldman stock he owned at the beginning of 2008 was worth just $127 million by the end of the year. This probably explains why Blankfein's charitable contributions for 2008 fell off a cliff, too. In 2007, the Lloyd & Laura Blankfein Foundation handed out more than $1.5 million to more than three dozen charity groups. In 2008, the number dropped to $643,000. Almost every non-profit took a haircut: In 2007, for example, Blankfein and his wife gave more than $240,000 to Ethical Culture-Fieldston; in 2008, the number fell to just $45,000. But there were also a number of charities that were dropped altogether, such as the Robin Hood Foundation, which collected $390,000 from the Blankfeins in 2006 and $500,000 in 2007, but got zilch in 2008. The really grim news? Blankfein's foundation was only reporting contributions through January 2008, when the financial crisis was just beginning, which suggests much bigger drop-offs are yet to come. A look at the Blankfeins' contributions from 2006, 2007 and 2008 after the jump. More