Robin Hood, New York’s largest poverty-fighting organization, and iHeartMedia joined together tonight to air a citywide “virtual telethon” to raise awareness and funds to help New Yorkers whose lives have been dramatically impacted by COVID-19.
Hosted by Tina Fey, “Rise Up New York!” brought together bighearted New Yorkers with one common goal: to raise funds for Robin Hood’s relief and recovery efforts to help fellow New Yorkers rebuild their lives as the city moves towards recovery and beyond. One hundred percent of donations raised are deployed directly to the organizations on the frontlines who are providing support for food, shelter, cash assistance, health and mental health, legal services, education and more. To date, Robin Hood has raised over $115 million toward relief and recovery efforts since the onset of the pandemic in New York City. In addition to tonight’s telethon, over $44 million of the funds were already raised through the Robin Hood Relief Fund and over $1.5 million has been raised through Robin Hood’s “Relief Corps,” including Gwyneth Paltrow, Karlie Kloss, Katie Couric and New York’s sports teams, who launched GoFundMe fundraisers to engage their networks. Robin Hood was also supported generously by corporate donors, including Alexandria Real Estate Equities, Inc., Barclays, BlackRock, Capital One, Goldman Sachs Gives, PepsiCo and Related Companies along with Bloomberg Philanthropies, and the Jane and Daniel Och Family Foundation, who recognized the extreme need for help and proactively reached out at the onset of the pandemic.
