Philanthropy Life Lessons from Private Equity Billionaire George Roberts

George Roberts, who co-founded the enormously successful KKR private equity firm in 1976, is worth billions. But in a July 16 interview for the Business Times' special section this week on corporate philanthropy, Roberts talked primarily about his work helping the homeless in San Francisco (and why it wasn't easy), his views on philanthropy and why the U.S. leads the world in philanthropic endeavors, plus the critical importance of having a job.

Seventeen years ago, Roberts started REDF, a San Francisco nonprofit that uses a venture philanthropy approach to invest in businesses that then provide work to some of society's most marginalized members. A partial account of that effort, and others like it, is the cover story of the corporate philanthropy report that appears in the Business Times' July 24 print edition.