Children’s Institute Raises Record $4 Million at Beverly Hills Gala Honoring Reiners

The Children’s Institute raised a record $4 million at its annual Cape & Gown Gala at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills on November 8, turning its 120th anniversary into a high-stakes tribute to the legacy of Rob and Michele Reiner.

More than 600 civic leaders, philanthropists, and entertainment figures packed the ballroom months after the couple’s deaths. The room was electric. The proceeds mark the single largest fundraising haul in the charity’s history, directing fresh capital into trauma intervention, early childhood education, and whole-family stabilization networks across Los Angeles County.

Founded in 1906, the organization delivers direct social services, pediatric mental health therapies, and school-readiness programs to roughly 30,000 vulnerable children and families every year.

The Reiner Civic Legacy and First 5 California

The evening centered on the Reiners’ decades-long structural interventions in public policy. Rob and Michele Reiner spearheaded the ballot initiative that established First 5 California—a landmark statewide early childhood development framework funded by tobacco tax revenues—and financed the constitutional court challenges that secured nationwide marriage equality.

Children’s Institute President and Chief Executive Officer Martine Singer, who is also the sister of Michele Reiner, addressed the gathering on the moral urgency underpinning the Reiners' philanthropic footprint.

Their children, Jake and Romy Reiner, took the stage to translate personal loss into institutional momentum.

They did not dwell on grief. Instead, they handed the inaugural Michele & Rob Reiner Champion for Change Award to veteran actor and author Jamie Lee Curtis. Jake Reiner told the assembly that his parents never accepted the status quo, pushing systems to protect vulnerable youth starting with the standard they established at home. Romy Reiner credited Curtis with steadying their family during their darkest moments, praising her immediate, relentless impulse to right wrongs.

Champion for Change Honor and Children’s Advocacy

Curtis accepted the honor by pointing to the couple’s refusal to whisper in the face of injustice, declaring that the Reiners lived "so fiercely, so loudly."

Curtis brought substantial philanthropic bona fides to the podium. Her charitable initiative, My Hand In Yours, has directed nearly $2 million in direct proceeds to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. A prolific advocate for pediatric literacy, Curtis has authored 14 children’s titles, most recently publishing Just One More Sleep in 2024.

Grammy-winning musician John Mayer anchored the stage performances, playing "The Heart of Life" and "Gravity." Mayer shared a direct creative tie to Rob Reiner; his track "Say," composed for Reiner’s 2007 feature film The Bucket List, earned Mayer the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance.

Comedian and author Chelsea Handler spoke on the enduring community coalitions forged by the Reiners, urging donors to sustain direct contributions to the institute's frontline case managers.

Emmy-winning director Barry Sonnenfeld served as master of ceremonies. Sonnenfeld, whose professional partnership with Rob Reiner included When Harry Met Sally and Misery, originally introduced Rob to Michele Singer decades ago. Sonnenfeld spoke plainly of their combined cultural weight, describing them as deeply caring operatives who commanded institutional leverage to shift policy.

The Children’s Institute will immediately channel the $4 million across its network of regional family resource hubs ahead of the 2026 fiscal cycle, expanding outpatient trauma therapy slots and deploying dedicated whole-family case managers across greater Los Angeles County.