The Art of Philanthropy

Posted by Mary Rayme Dec 24, 2006

The world exhaled in delight earlier this month when a famous black dress worn by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany's fetched nearly $1 million dollars US at Christie's auction house in London.

The sleeveless size 2 dress has long black gloves, and was designed and donated by Hubert de Givenchy to the founders of City of Joy Aid. All proceeds from the auctioned dress benefit City of Joy Aid in India, an organization that works to help India's poor.

Perhaps the best part about the $807,000 going to City of Joy Aid is that there are no paid employees, and the organization basically runs on royalties from books and speaking engagement fees. The full amount of this lump of loot will go directly to aid the poor.

There are two ironies here. The first, is that the dress was only expected to bring between $98,000-$138,000 and brought nearly 6 times that much. The other irony is that the proceeds of the sale of this iconic dress that represents wealth and opulence will benefit some of the poorest folk on the face of the planet.

In the words of co-founder, Dominique Lapierre, "I am absolutely dumbfounded to believe that a piece of cloth which belonged to such a magical actress will now enable me to buy bricks and cement to put the most destitute children in the world into schools."

It is good karma all the way 'round, and nearly a million dollars well spent.