Tipping Point Benefit Raises $8.5 Million to Prevent Poverty

SAN FRANCISCO, May 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Tipping Point Community, the Bay Area's leading poverty-fighting organization, today announced that its annual benefit held last night raised $8.5 million, and 100 percent of the money raised will go to local nonprofits that provide education, housing, employment and wellness services to low-income individuals and families, as Tipping Point's board underwrites all event costs.

With a record long waitlist for public housing in San Francisco, homelessness up 20% in Silicon Valley and a third of low-income African American and Latino students in California failing to complete high school, Tipping Point Community's benefit focused this year's major fundraising effort on providing more unrestricted dollars to the most effective education, housing, employment and wellness programs serving low-income communities in the Bay Area.

Million dollar matching pledges from Pete Briger, Chairman at Fortress Investment Group and Tipping Point's newest board member, and another from an anonymous donor, jumpstarted the event's cause-related auction, a competition led by team captains Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, Ronnie Lott, Alec Perkins and Jed York. The funds raised in the auction will allow Tipping Point to add four nonprofits to its portfolio and increase unrestricted grants to organizations that are scaling their poverty-fighting efforts. Altogether, Tipping Point-supported programs will reach a total of 80,000 people in need over the next year.

"Nights like tonight signal that we're living two realities in the Bay Area right now," said Tipping Point Community Founder + CEO, Daniel Lurie. "Many of the people in this room are responsible for dreaming up products, companies and connections we never thought possible, and yet one in five individuals in our community is too poor to meet his or her basic needs. I believe it is our duty to dream of a better life for everyone in our community."

The benefit was co-chaired by Cori and Tony Bates, Alicia Engstrom and Hosain Rahman, Liz and Thomas Laffont, and Christine and Pierre Lamond. Daniel Lurie and auctioneer Lydia Fenet of Christie's hosted the seventh annual event, while Tony Bates, President of the Skype Division at Microsoft, event co-chair, and Tipping Point board member, addressed guests as well. Run DMC entertained guests after the dinner and auction, and DJ Ruckus spun until midnight for the spirited crowd.

Of the evening, Mr. Lurie said, "We are incredibly humbled by the extraordinary generosity we witnessed last night and are inspired by all those who gave on behalf of the 1.3 million people living in poverty right here in the Bay Area."

Visit tippingpoint.org to learn more and to get involved.

About Tipping Point Community

Tipping Point screens nonprofits rigorously to find the most effective groups connecting low-income people to the services and opportunities needed to break the cycle of poverty and achieve economic self-sufficiency. Tipping Point's board underwrites all operating and fundraising expenses so that 100% of every dollar donated goes directly to the fight against poverty.  Beyond dollars, Tipping Point provides its grantees with the communications, technical and management support they need to grow and increase their impact. More information about Tipping Point Community is available at tippingpoint.org.

SOURCE Tipping Point Community