Robin Hood Event Adjusts to Tough Times

May 13, 2009, The New York Times — Grilled shrimp and chicken Milanese for 3,200. Music by the Black Eyed Peas.

And Oprah in a pink dress.

All this, by the gilded standards of the hedge fund world, seemed like a lean night out.

The Robin Hood Foundation’s spring fund-raising event has long set the pace for charity benefits, raising tens of millions of dollars from publicity-averse hedge fund moguls who engaged in raucous bidding wars to win, say, dinner for 10 with the celebrity chef Mario Batali or a trip to Australia that included lunch with Hugh Jackman.