NYC Mayor Forming Charity Foundation

NEW YORK -- The private philanthropic foundation that Mayor Michael Bloomberg says he will run full time after leaving office in 2009 is starting to take shape, with its own headquarters and the beginning of a staff.

The billionaire has named the organization the Bloomberg Family Foundation and set in motion the process to officially establish it as a nonprofit group.

Bloomberg also has begun to assemble a staff that will work in a Manhattan building he recently bought. He announced Wednesday that one of his commissioners, Verna Eggleston, will leave city government to work at the foundation.

Eggleston joins foundation staffer Susan Calzone, who was a top executive at Bloomberg's financial information company, Bloomberg L.P., and helped with the mayor's re-election campaign in 2005.

Bloomberg hasn't said what causes the foundation will support or how much it plans to give away, but his past donations amount to hundreds of millions of dollars. Recipients include medical research facilities, arts groups and educational institutions.

He announced this year he is pouring $125 million into a worldwide campaign against smoking, a cause he says is often overlooked in philanthropy. He also has pledged $10 million to the World Trade Center memorial, a project where he recently took over efforts to raise $300 million.

Once up and running, the foundation is expected to take over all of the mayor's charitable giving. It has not yet handed out any money, spokesman Robert Lawson said.