Canada’s hedge fund industry rallied in support of the treatment and prevention of child maltreatment last Thursday, raising north of $150,000 for Toronto-based foundations that help prevent child abuse and neglect at Hedge Funds Care Canada’s third annual gala.

More than 150 hedge fund industry professionals wined, dined and mingled at the Sutton Place Hotel’s exclusive Stop 33 top-floor lounge in support of Hedge Funds Care Canada (HFCC), the country’s only philanthropy exclusively dedicated to the treatment and prevention of child abuse and neglect.

Bay Street, Bloor Street, and visiting Wall Street hedge fund authorities took part in a first-rate gourmet-gala evening, tasting top-tier dishes and desserts prepared by the award-winning chefs of the Toronto-based Sutton Place, the headquarters of the Toronto International Film Festival.

One lucky guest walked away with a genuine one-carat custom-designed diamond pendant worth US$15,000, which was picked out among more than 100 identical cubic zirconium pendants that guests had the option of purchasing in the “Diamond Rush” event hosted by Toronto jewelers P&H Design.

“That homeless person on the street begging for change, that woman who sleeps on a cardboard box on a grate, there is a very strong chance that those people were victims of child maltreatment,” University of Toronto Professor and academic consultant Marion Bogo told attendees. “The programs that your money helps fund helps prevent maltreatment at its earliest stages, which in turn helps these people and helps our society overall.”

“The Canadian hedge fund industry is particularly devoted to philanthropic causes, and this cause resonates,” said Corey Goldman, president of Hedge Funds Care Canada and senior editor of New York-based hedge fund magazine MARHedge. “Child abuse and neglect is easily preventable, and there is no reason that any child, in Canada or anywhere in the world, should be exposed to trauma, maltreatment or neglect.”

Helping with the fundraising efforts and adding to the elegance of the evening were the generous efforts of HFCC’s local and international sponsors, which included: Arrow Hedge Partners, AIMA Canada, BMO Capital Markets, Calyon Financial, CMC Markets, Citco, Credit Suisse, Deloitte & Touche, Ernst & Young, Fulcrum Fund Administration, Goodwood Inc., Hillsdale Investment Management, John Budzyna, HSBC, MARHedge, Marret Asset Management, Pricewaterhouse Coopers, RBC Capital Markets, Rosseau Asset Management, Scotia Capital Markets, Sprott Asset Management, Salida Capital Management and TD Securities.

Midtown Saab of Toronto, P&H Design and Halpern Enterprises also graciously donated their products and services to help with the cause.

Since it was founded in 2004, HFCC has given more than $250,000 to three Toronto-area organizations: the Child Psychotherapy Foundation of Canada; the George Hull Centre for Children and Families; and the Hincks-Dellcrest Centre.

HFCC is part of a larger alliance of hedge fund industry professionals that comprise New York-based Hedge Funds Care, which was established in 1998 by Rob Davis, a dedicated hedge fund professional interested in giving back to protect children from abuse and neglect.

The group, which includes prime brokers, attorneys, accountants, information providers, investors and managers, has raised approximately US$18 million through annual benefits in Toronto, New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Atlanta, Boston, Denver, London and the Cayman Islands, which has been distributed to local, community-based nonprofits focused on providing treatment and support to families in crisis, children who have been abused and/or are in foster care.