It completely slipped past me that The Apollo was heavily supported by WaMu, therefore renaming Amateur Night, WaMu’s Apollo Amateur Night. Now that WaMu is swallowed up by Chase, what does this mean for the Apollo? To make matters worse, The Apollo was also one of the institutions supported by the now defunct Lehman Brothers.
Inquiries about other recent Lehman Brothers pledges produced similar responses. Last year, the investment bank gave away $39 million in the U.S., Europe and Asia.
Administrators at the Robin Hood Foundation and the Harlem Children’s Zone, each of which was in the process of receiving $3 million from Lehman through 2009, declined to comment on whether they expected that support to continue. The Apollo Theater, which was one of the 87 cultural institutions supported by Lehman, also said it couldn’t comment on the remainder of the $1 million it had been slated to receive over four years.
Some of the philanthropy of the vanishing Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers is expected to be taken over by the firms acquiring parts or all of those companies, JPMorgan Chase and Barclays.
Both firms declined to comment on their plans but stressed that they, too, have a record of strong giving. JPMorgan Chase said it gave $114 million to charitable causes last year.
-Source: CNN
Posted on September 29, 2008 by D. Bell