Source of Hope Foundation - Stephen Robert and Pilar Crespi Robert

Avenue Magazine

The Feeling is Mutual

by Linda Mark

Stephen Robert and Pilar Crespi discovered that they had a mutual passion for philanthropy when they met in 1996 on a blind date in New York. Yet nothing happened for two months. Stephen wasn’t sure that Pilar liked him.

But when the principal owner of Oppenheimer & Co., who also served as chancellor of his alma mater, Brown University, ran into the friend who’d introduced them, he was encouraged to call Pilar again.

“I liked Steve,” says Pilar, the former New York model, fashion coordinator for the designer Valentino in Rome, and public relations professional. “I was on the board of the Henry Street Settlement, which provides vital services to more than 60,000 New Yorkers each year. Steve and I discussed our interest in giving back and discovered that we had many of the same values.”

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Boosting Employment In Palestinian Tech Sector With Google.Org And Source Of Hope Foundation

MERCYCORPS.ORG — Mercy Corps, Google.org and the Source of Hope Foundation have joined forces to launch the Arab Developer Network Initiative (ADNI) in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Google.org, the philanthropic arm of Google, is supporting the first two years of this effort with a $900,000 grant, and the Source of Hope Foundation is providing $1 million. The initiative is intended to spark innovation in information and communications technology (ICT) in the region, and catalyze income opportunities for youth, reaching over 1,000 Palestinian entrepreneurs in the first year.

Through a combination of training in technical and business essentials, peer-to-peer learning, mentorship, and an initial seed fund for high potential startups, capitalized at $500,000, ADNI will help build a critical mass of Palestinian youth who are competent in multiple programming platforms and able to create and run successful web-based businesses. Furthermore, Mercy Corps’ MicroMentor platform, a free online service used to link experienced business professionals with entrepreneurs looking for mentors, will be launched in Arabic to provide further support.

As in much of the Middle East and North Africa, the Palestinian population is young – 41 percent are under fifteen years of age – well-educated, and chronically unemployed. The World Bank reports that at the end of 2010, unemployment among those between the ages of 15-29 was an estimated 26 percent in the West Bank and 53 percent in Gaza…

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The Wall Street Journal

Couple’s Vow To Assist The Poor

From the Lower East Side to Africa, Stephen and Pilar Crespi Robert are focusing their philanthropy on helping the poor. It is a full-time effort for the couple and the mission of their Source of Hope Foundation.

Mr. Robert believes that “it’s OK to be rich, but it’s not OK to die rich. If you’re fortunate to be in a position to make money, it’s not really yours. It belongs to society.”

The couple have recently contributed nearly $100,000 to the Henry Street Settlement of the Lower East Side. The human service organization provides health care, arts and senior and youth services to nearly 50,000 residents annually. Notable work includes a program that provides housekeeping services to senior citizens and disabled people, mental health services, adult basic education classes and even a knitting group.

The couple have specifically supported the funding of a computer lab at one of Henry Street’s shelters for the homeless.

Mrs. Robert, 59 years old, serves on the Henry Street board as a vice president and is well known in the fashion community where she previously ran a public relations firm. Mrs. Robert says that Henry Street is one of the organizations “closest to my heart” because it has “one of the most interesting holistic approaches” to helping people. She is especially involved with the organization’s work with children and women who are victims of domestic violence…

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