D.C. Food Bank Gets $5-Million From Financier and His Wife
By Caroline Bermudez
Contributor
January 5, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
How much: $5-million
Who gave it: William E. Conway Jr., co-founder and managing director of the Carlyle Group, a private-equity firm in Washington, and his wife, Joanne. The gift was made through their Bedford Falls Foundation.
Who got it: The Capital Area Food Bank, in Washington, will put the money toward a new $37-million food-distribution center that will allow it to double the amount of food it can collect and distribute to needy people.
How the gift came about: Mr. Conway remembered the food bank announcing the expansion two years ago, yet nothing came of it. He visited its facilities at the prompting of staff members at So Others Might Eat, a charity in Washington that assists homeless and other needy people, who praised the work of the food bank. That visit, plus learning that the food bank had attracted money from other donors Mr. Conway respected, led to the gift. Mr. Conway says, “Hunger is the most basic need of all, and I really didn’t think that given the wealth of our country, anyone ought to be hungry.”
What Mr. Conway hopes the gift will accomplish: “Convincing other people they ought to support things like this too, because they’re not that far away from this happening to them.”
Where the donor did not give: “My alma maters. They don’t really need my money. They’ve got big endowments already.” (He received a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College and a master’s in business administration from the University of Chicago.)
Plans for future gifts: Mr. Conway hopes to support other causes that serve low-income people and provide basic needs such as food, housing, clothing, and elementary education. Because of his faith, he also plans to continue supporting Catholic groups. “I do expect that I’ll give away at least half my wealth before I die—and I mean before I die rather than when I die.” He adds, “Now is when people have the need, not sometime down the road. And now is frankly when I can control exactly where it’s going to go and what it’s going to be used for.
