Hedge Funds Care, a non-profit organisation which raises funds and awareness within the hedge fund industry to prevent and treat child abuse, will hold its 12th annual New York Open Your Heart to the Children Benefit on 25 February. 

This year's event features a gala cocktail reception and the presentation of the Hedge Funds Care Award for Caring to Liya Kebede, for her efforts to improve health conditions for women and children around the world, and Michael E. Novogratz, president of Fortress Investment Group, for his corporate and philanthropic leadership.

Lee Daniels, director of the film Precious: Based on the Novel Push by Sapphire, will receive the Hedge Funds Care Founder's Award.

The co-chairs for the event are Dean C. Backer, Goldman Sachs, and Richard H. Baker (pictured), Managed Funds Association. CNBC anchor and reporter Michelle Caruso-Cabrera will serve as master of ceremonies. 

Since the first benefit in 1998, Hedge Funds Care has awarded over 600 grants totalling USD21m in the US and abroad. Currently the New York benefit, which raised USD1.3m in 2009, supports 30 grants to organisations that deal with child abuse and neglect in New York City, Westchester, Connecticut and New Jersey.

"In this tough economic environment, we are concerned about an increase in abuse and neglect cases, which typically rise in times of high unemployment. Our work is particularly important right now given that government resources are stretched so thin," says John M. Budzyna, president and chairman of Hedge Funds Care.