June 2009 President's Message
John W. Hicks
 Dear Colleagues:
In the May 30 issue of Newsweek, Pete Peterson, our keynote speaker for Fund Raising Day in New York 2009 writes why he decided to commit $1 billion—most of the net proceeds of the sale of his firm, the Blackstone Group—to the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. In his op ed, Mr. Peterson tells how he is hopeful that his philanthropic investment will enable the Foundation to take on our nation’s fiscal sustainability challenges. Mr. Peterson’s gift speaks to the power of private philanthropy to support entrepreneurial ideas to help solve our society’s most pressing problems. Interest alone (the current market notwithstanding) on a billion dollars can support a lot of creative approaches quickly, creatively and forcefully.
Equally important, Mr. Peterson’s story, in and of itself, is the embodiment of Lincoln’s “better angels of our nature.” When considering the enormity of his personal windfall, earned through very hard work and keen business acumen, he decided to look to others who had faced a similar situation. He writes: “Almost all the ones I most admired were major philanthropists: Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Mike Bloomberg, George Soros, Eli Broad—each with a passion to do good, each getting so much pleasure from giving their money away. I decided that’s what I wanted to do.”
I hope that all of you reading this letter will be joining me and over one thousand of our colleagues at Fund Raising Day in New York on Friday June 12 to hear Mr. Peterson deliver what I am sure will be an inspiring message to us all.
Collegially yours,
John Hicks
President, Greater New York Chapter, AFP |
