Money managers in Boston stepped up to the plate to contribute to One Fund Boston, created by the city of Boston and the state of Massachusetts to assist families of the three people killed in the April 15 Boston Marathon bombings and the scores who were severely injured.
“Our employees really knocked the cover off the ball,” said Jeffrey Beale, vice president and chief administration officer at Eaton Vance Corp. of the $200,000 in contributions — $100,000 from employees with a 100% match from the company — made as of May 3. The company also gave its own donation to the fund, which Mr. Beale would not elaborate on except to say it was “sizable.” The company had done similar fundraising efforts to assist other disaster victims, including those affected by the Sept. 11 attacks, the Asian tsunami and Hurricane Sandy, but “this was the biggest fund we've ever raised,” Mr. Beale said.
As of May 3, One Fund Boston had received $28 million in contributions, according to the fund's website.
Spokesmen at several other money managers said their firms had been doing fundraising for One Fund:
nAt Fidelity Investments, the company will match employee contributions to the fund on a 1-to-1 basis up to a maximum of $1 million, said Vin Loporchio, spokes-man.
nState Street Global Advisors parent State Street Corp. committed $500,000 to One Fund Boston and Joseph “Jay” Hooley, CEO, agreed to sit on the board for the organization, said Alicia Curran Sweeney, State Street spokeswoman. The company is also matching all employee donations dollar-for-dollar up to $250,000, with the goal of making State Street's total donation $1 million.
nAt MFS Investment Management, whose Back Bay offices were near the explosion sites, the company made a $100,000 corporate donation and invited employees to contribute, with the money manager matching those donations, said John Reilly, spokesman.
nLoomis Sayles & Co. matched employee gifts up to $2,000 and the firm's Charitable Giving committee approved an additional $500 matching gift allotment for donations to the One Fund Boston, increasing the match amount to $2,500, said Erin Heard, spokeswoman. As of May 2, Loomis Sayles had contributed a total of $25,000 to The One Fund.
Along with fundraising efforts, money managers also backed employee efforts to contribute in other ways. Employees at Fidelity were encouraged to participate in a day of service on May 8 in Boston with a dozen projects across the city, and Fidelity is working with Boston Cares, a local volunteer mobilization organization, in its “Miles for Good: 26.2 Days of Inspired Acts of Kindness” initiative to foster a sense of civic pride, Mr. Loporchio said. The company is also exploring other ways to help with long-term recovery efforts.
Loomis Sayles employees who ran in the marathon were asked to name the charities they had chosen to raise money for in the race so other employees could contribute to them, said Ms. Heard. Among those were the New England Aquarium Outreach Program, Boys and Girls Club of Boston, Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the Alzheimer's Association.
At Numeric Investors LLC, fundraising efforts were targeted at showing thanks to the police officers at a Back Bay station who were among the first to provide aid at the bombing sites and also were instrumental in the search for the bombers, said Karen Uretzky, human resources manager.
“We had to do something,” she said, so on the day after the bombings, a collection among employees was started and Ms. Uretzky contacted the police station and asked where the officers there liked to get food. She then called AK's Takeout Delivery in South Boston and asked them “to prepare what you can.” The first delivery for lunch on April 17 was paid for by $200 collected that morning, and then later that day another $400 worth of food was delivered through Numeric employee contributions; no company money was used.
