After Tragedy in Philippines, Duty Calls
By The Wall Street Journal | 12.12.2013
Tony Alvarez’s Reaction to Typhoon Haiyan
When Typhoon Haiyan hit the Philippines early last month, Tony Alvarez’s first reaction was to “find an organization to just give money to and to help,” he said.
But after a recent visit to Tacloban, one of the hardest hit areas, Mr. Alvarez and his wife, Abigail, knew that they could do more. As the co-founder of Alvarez & Marsal LLC, a New York-based management consulting firm that specializes in corporate advisory and crisis management services, Mr. Alvarez said that he’s using the kind of problem-solving approach of his daily work to help his fellow Filipinos.
Recently, Mr. and Mrs. Alvarez launched Pinoy Relief, a new charity focused specifically on providing direct relief to people affected by Typhoon Haiyan. The couple and their family have committed $500,000 to the new charity and will cover all administrative costs. Mr. Alvarez, who is from Manila, says that another $300,000 is planned.
“While the devastation in Tacloban was pretty bad, it was even worse when you went to the outlying rural communities which are mostly fishing and farming towns that have been wiped out,” said Mr. Alvarez, 65 years old.
He intends for his organization to provide pass-through grants to on-the-ground groups that can “speedily” get people working again and children back in school. The time between immediate emergency relief and long-term recovery is the organization’s focus, Mr. Alvarez said.
He also wanted to create a lean organization. While in the Philippines, he saw many groups doing very good work. But others, he thought, were inefficient with high administrative costs. Other organizations were raising money in the name of victims of Typhoon Haiyan, but directing a small portion of money elsewhere.
“The more my wife and I thought about it, we wanted to be able to direct the money we raise,” he said. To that end, Mr. Alvarez said his organization will conduct thorough due diligence on any organization that will receive a grant from Pinoy Relief.
He is committing that 100% of all donations will go to relief and not overhead.
Taking on such a significant charitable project is a first for Mr. and Mrs. Alvarez, who met and married as teenagers. Mr. Alvarez’s giving has been done quietly and through his family foundation. Public records show that in recent years the Alvarez family has supported a variety of organizations, including Mount Sinai School of Medicine, NYU Stern School of Business and the Philippine Development Foundation.
Mr. Alvarez admits that he has reservations about becoming the public face of Pinoy relief and that it’s “discomforting” to be asking friends for support.
“This may be the first and last time I do it,” he said with a chuckle.
Corrections & Amplifications
Tony Alvarez and his family have committed $500,000 to Pinoy Relief, a Typhoon Haiyan relief organization, and will cover all administrative costs for the organization. An earlier version of this article misstated that the funds would go to cover administrative costs.
