The Robin Hood foundation, a poverty-fighting nonprofit organization that finances more than 200 programs across New York City, was set to announce on Tuesday that Wes Moore, an author, combat veteran and entrepreneur, will become its chief executive.

Robin Hood is a significant philanthropic force in the city. Last year, it distributed $130 million to organizations there, including charter schools, health care providers and early childhood programs. In its 29 years, it has raised $2.5 billion from individuals and other foundations, and it is a favorite charity on Wall Street and among hedge funds.

Mr. Moore was raised largely in the Bronx, near Gun Hill Road, where he, his mother and his two sisters lived with his grandparents. The family moved there from Maryland a year or two after his father died, when he was 3. Mr. Moore said living in the Bronx affected how he thought about poverty and philanthropy.

“Disparity is real,” he said. “We have communities that have been neglected, and I have lived in one of them. That was something very deeply ingrained in me from a very young age.”