美国奥委会在华尔街寻找资金和帮助

    美国奥委会需要有更好的筹款方式。它吸收私人捐款的主要方式是直邮，但直到不久前通过这一方式所获得的人均捐款额只有区区20美元。“我们获得的私人捐款还不如科罗拉多斯普林斯的夏延山动物园（Cheyenne Mountain Zoo）多，”美国奥委会发言人帕特里克•桑德斯基表示。

    为获得大额捐赠（就像支撑大多数非营利机构的六、七位数的支票捐赠），2010年美国奥委会成立了理事会。所有理事都承诺在四年的时间周期里捐款30万美元，并且拿出必要的时间和精力来主持活动和募集钱款。一些知名的华尔街人士，包括Third Point的丹•罗伯、BlackRock的瑞克•赖德都主动请缨。“奥运会关乎民族骄傲和世界团结。”Spring Hill Capital的创始人以及美国奥委会首批理事之一的凯文•怀特表示，“自我长大成人以来，还从未看到这个国家或这个世界如此两极分化。但在奥运会期间，全球都会把这放在一边，这是一件非常了不起的事。”

    目前，美国奥委会正在寻找志愿者免费帮助其管理筹集到的资金。“我们希望能吸引到关注运动员和体育的纯粹性的世界一流投资人士来代表美国奥委会投资，”怀特表示。如果出现亏损，这些志愿者投资经理还需要自掏腰包贴补损失。未来的奥运选手们或许再也无需打第二份工了。

    译者：早稻米

    The U.S. Olympic Committee needed a better way to raise money. Until recently, direct mail -- the USOC's primary source of private donations -- yields on average a $20 gift from those who donated. "We were raising less in private contributions than the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo in Colorado Springs," says Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the USOC.

    To bring in major gifts, the kind of six and seven figure checks that are the lifeblood of most non-profit organizations, the USOC created a contribution-based board of trustees in 2010. Trustees commit $300,000 over a four-year term, as well as the time and energy necessary to host events and raise money. High profile Wall Streeters including Dan Loeb of Third Point and Rick Rieder of BlackRock have volunteered. "The Olympics is about national pride and, at the same time, global unity," says Kevin White, the founder of Spring Hill Capital and one of the USOC's original trustees. "Never in my adult life, have I seen the nation or the world so polarized. But the world will put that aside during the games, and that's a remarkable feat."

    The USOC's trustees are now working to put together a team of volunteer money managers who are willing to manage a pool of funds for the USOC, free of charge. "We are tapping world class investors who care about amateur athletics and the purity of sport to invest on behalf of the USOC," says White. The managers will also dig into their own pockets to reimburse the fund for any losses. Future Olympians might not need an extra job.