We watched 15 Blackstone employees pitch charities to senior dealmakers to learn what it takes to impress the firm's top brass

Blackstone

Stephen Schwarzman, CEO of The Blackstone Group, shares some words at an internal firm contest where associates pitched dealmakers on charitable donations.

• Business Insider sat in on an internal competition at The Blackstone Group this week where associates, product managers, and other staff pitched senior dealmakers on charitable donations.
• The process gave us insight into what it takes to impress senior leaders at the firm.
• Judges included Joan Solotar, head of Blackstone's private wealth solutions business; David Blitzer, head of its tactical opportunities unit; and Sean Klimczak, head of its infrastructure group.
• At one point, the firm's billionaire founder, Stephen Schwarzman, interrupted a pitch to say hello and wish everyone well.
• Visit BI Prime for more stories.

At The Blackstone Group's New York headquarters this week, the firm's top brass convened in a large room on the 43rd floor to assess junior talent.

With a small stage at the center, senior dealmakers would get to see how well a group of associates, product managers, and other staff brought in from offices around the world could make a pitch.

The pitches were for the firm to make charitable donations, not investments, but the process gave us insight into what it takes to impress Blackstone's senior leaders.

Seated up front were two rows of about 20 judges, including Joan Solotar, head of Blackstone's private wealth solutions business; David Blitzer, head of its tactical opportunities unit; and Sean Klimczak, head of its infrastructure group.

Klimczak popped watermelon candy, leaning forward in his seat with his heels out of his shoes, while Vern Perry, head of impact investing, buried himself in the pitch materials, peering down through his glasses at papers tagged "confidential," carrying statistics about the charities, including their annual budget and headcount.

Daniel Goldberg, who works in Blackstone's real estate division and is based in New York, made a pitch for Getting Out & Staying Out, a Harlem-based organization aimed at helping young people by providing mentoring, internships, and other support systems once they are released from jail.

"One of the biggest issues with the prison system is focus on incarceration and not rehabilitation," the Blackstone principal told the judges in taking the stage.

"Almost 70 percent of young people in the U.S. today who go to jail are likely to return," he said, directing judges to the papers in front of them. "At the same time, it's an incredible cost to the taxpayer. It costs over $300,000 a year to keep someone in Rikers prison."

Blackstone

Daniel Goldberg, a Blackstone principal, pitches his firm on donating to GOSO.

His pitch was met with some measured scrutiny, with general questions about the program and the people it helps, but also about granular details of the organization's financial needs.

"Talk a little bit about the funding," said Vik Sawhney, Blackstone's chief operating officer of private equity. "How much of it comes from government sources, foundations, private donations and how replicable and scalable is it?"

Goldberg responded quickly, telling him that half of the organization's money comes from government sources, a third from large organizations like Tiger and Pinkerton, and the rest coming from individual donations.

"In terms of scalability," he said, "part of what's exciting for me is to be a part of an organization that right now is lean and mean and creative. But they've built a business model that you can see the success rate in the numbers. These types of internships and other programs where you work with businesses to interview or workshop, I think are very scalable."

Getting Out & Staying Out - or GOSO - partners with 100 local businesses to offer paid, 12-week internships. Goldberg's overall ask was that Blackstone fund 25 internships.

The back-and-forth lasted five minutes before Goldberg sat down and another contestant took his place on stage. The room was packed with about 50 people, including friends and colleagues of the contestants who occasionally interjected cheers from the sidelines.

GOSO was just one of 10 charity organizations executives put forward to the judges. Other contestants presented pitches for organizations ranging from a farm often used by members of a surrounding low-income community and the disabled; a group devoted to offering financial education; and a support system for LGBT youth.

Stephanie McGowan, one senior associate, pitched POTs, a Bronx-based charitable group. It had a three-pronged strategy for tackling poverty, she said.

"First, its food service program," she said, "through which it will give or serve one million meals annually, to 30,000 people including 9,000 children."

"Second, through day-to-day services. POTs provides things that you or I may take for granted every day, such as clothing, hair cuts, showers, and even a safe mailing address. Third ... we're focused on housing, education and workforce development."

At one point, the firm's billionaire founder, Stephen Schwarzman, interrupted a pitch to say hello and wish everyone well.

"I just wanted to congratulate everybody," Schwarzman said, snatching the mic from two Mumbai-based associates, Vinay Subramanian and Sarthak Daga, who were discussing an organization called Magic Bus, which helps children and young people out of poverty.

"This is unbelievable," Schwarzman said, "I mean, really unbelievable. Everyone giving time and the quality of the presentations. I mean, this is really Blackstone at its best. So, I just wanted to stop by and congratulate everybody."

His presence was met with applause. And as he left the stage, he gave the mic back. "And you two ... maybe you'll win!"

They did, indeed.

Blackstone

Blackstone dealmakers applaud contestants.

By Thursday evening, the Mumbai associates' organization, Magic Bus, was included in the five charities deemed worthy of a $100,000 grant from Blackstone. The seven junior executives who pitched them went home with bragging rights.

Goldberg and McGowan won as well, as did two associates based in Sydney, Chara Seow and Paige Muggeridge; and one associate in New York, Will Bonds.

The gamesmanship started back in September, when Blackstone opened applications to all employees ranked vice president, principal, or below, to pitch the Blackstone Charitable Foundation for the financial support of charities they knew.

The foundation had set aside $500,000 and said it would select five winning charities.

Over the course of several weeks, it received applications from more than 250 employees in different parts of the world. And foundation leaders had to cull the list to 10 finalist charities, whose Blackstone contestants then were able to pitch to a panel of judges.

It wasn't all bad news for contestants who made it to the final round but didn't land the $100,000. They each were given a surprise $25,000 check as a consolation.

"I think almost everyone here feels a sense of good fortune and a sense of responsibility to give back," Blackstone president Jon Gray told Business Insider. "When we overlay a competitive dynamic because you have all sorts of Type A people, that's the best thing."