Katzenberg-Clooney Fundraiser Nets $7 Million for Joe Biden
A virtual fundraiser co-hosted by Jeffrey Katzenberg and George Clooney netted $7 million for Joe Biden’s presidential campaign on Friday, according to the organizers.
The fundraiser featured appearances from Biden, running mate Kamala Harris, and their spouses, according to a release. About 25 donors participated in an “intimate virtual setting.”
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Katzenberg, the chairman of Quibi, and his wife, Marilyn Katzenberg, were among the co-hosts, along with Amal and George Clooney, Jennifer Lucas and Byron Allen, Ellen Bronfman Hauptman and Andrew Hauptman, and Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti.
“We are in the home stretch now,” Katzenberg said in the release. “There is no question this is the most consequential election of our lifetime.”
The Biden campaign also held a virtual “grassroots” fundraiser on Friday, which brought in $1.6 million from 42,000 people. The Biden campaign provided a pool report from the grassroots event, but not from the more lucrative “intimate” event.
“I’m proud we had the most creative and inclusive convention in history,” Biden said at the grassroots event. “We united Americans as one nation.”
Biden is hoping to capitalize on the success of the convention — and Harris’ selection as the vice presidential candidate — to kick fundraising into a higher gear.
Katzenberg has long been a prolific donor to Democratic candidates and causes. According to the release, Katzenberg and Hauptman have held events that raised $13 million for Biden this cycle, and another $3 million for Democratic senate candidates.
Ellen Bronfman Hauptman is an heiress to the Seagram fortune, and she and her husband control Andell Inc., a family office and investment firm. Andrew Hauptman is also a former owner of the Chicago Fire soccer team.
“Ellen and I are proud to lock arms with our co-hosts in support of the Biden-Harris campaign,” Andrew Hauptman said in the release. “The change coming in November can’t come fast enough.”
The high-dollar event was organized by Jennifer Gonring, Jennifer Lin and Andy Spahn, partners at GLS.
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