Philanthropy is a cornerstone of modern capitalistic societies, which slightly counters the effects of the massive concentration of wealth to some extent, as evidenced by the 10 biggest Mark Zuckerberg donations to charity.
According to an estimate, American corporations and organizations gave $373.25 billion in donations in 2015. Executives and founders of tech companies are spearheading philanthropic efforts in the U.S, with Mark Zuckerberg, the 33-year old founder and CEO of Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) being among the top donors in the U.S. As of December 2015, Zuckerberg has donated about $1.6 billion to charitable endeavors, including for such causes as social change, education, health, tech skills, and climate change.
In 2015 Mr. Zuckerberg made headlines around the world when he announced that he would give away 99% of his wealth. However, Mr. Zuckerberg was grilled by the media after a company filing revealed that this donation would be going to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is a limited liability company. Legal experts say that the LLC provides Zuckerberg with more control over his announced donation, and that he will have the chance to change his mind in the future. However, some analysts believe that Zuckerberg channeled this massive donation through his own organization because his trust in the American bureaucracy and donation pooling was shattered after the Newark public school donation debacle in 2010, which will be discussed later in this article.
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Mark Zuckerberg, whose net worth exceeds $67 billion, mostly announces his donations on his Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB) page. Zuckerberg’s wife, Priscilla Chan, who is also a licensed pediatrician, actively takes part in his philanthropic efforts by heading the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative now has over $62 billion in assets, more than the ten biggest charity foundations in the U.S.
For some interesting related reading, check out Mansa Musa v. Genghis Khan: Who Is The Richest Man in History.
Now then, let’s check out the 10 biggest Mark Zuckerberg donations to charity, beginning on the next page.
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10. Support for Summit Public Schools
In September 2015, Facebook announced its intention to support Summit Public Schools, a nonprofit organization that helps public schools reform and revamp their system for better education. Facebook didn’t reveal exactly how much money it was spending on the project, but the results of the partnership are impressive. Last year, Summit Public Schools introduced new software, the Facebook-Summit learning management system, which helps students collaborate with each other, manage project timelines and create customizable lesson modules. The main idea behind this software is to give students more control over their performance instead of the conventional, teacher-driven education dynamics.
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9. Donation for Bill Gates’ Breaththrough Initiative for Clean Energy
Mark Zuckerberg is an ardent supporter of initiatives to solve the problem of global warming. In 2015, he announced an investment in the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, to invest in new clean energy technologies. The Breakthrough Energy Coalition was launched by Bill Gates with the purpose of gathering billionaires, investors, venture capitalists and celebrities to propel the idea and efforts for finding new sources of clean energy. The initiative is also backed by several famous names, including Jeff Bezos, Jack Ma, Michael Bloomberg, and Marc Benioff.
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8. Donation for AltSchool
AltSchool, the San Francisco-based company that makes personalized education software and operating systems for schools announced in May 2015 that it had raised $100 million from several venture capitalists and private donors. The list of donors included Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan. However, the specific details of the donation from the couple were not disclosed.
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7. $20 Million for Education Super Highway
Mark Zuckerberg announced on his Facebook page on November 19, 2015 that he would donate $20 million to Education Super Highway, a San-Francisco-based nonprofit that helps public schools buy affordable high-speed internet access. Zuckerberg had also donated $3 million to the organization in 2013. Zuckerberg said in his post that the purpose of the donation was to help the organization connect all of America’s classrooms to fast and reliable internet.
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6. $25 Million to Rid the World of the Ebola Virus
The world experienced a massive rise in the number of reported cases of Ebola in 2014. The epidemic, which originated in West Africa, has resulted in the deaths of about 12,000 people as of May 2016. Mark Zuckerberg took to his Facebook page on October 14, 2014 to announce that he and his wife were donating $25 million to the CDC Foundation to help fight Ebola. Mr. Zuckerberg said in his post that the Ebola virus was at its “critical turning point” and that the world must join hands to stop it from becoming a long-term global health crisis like Polio and HIV.
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5. $75 Million for SF General Hospital
In 2015, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife announced that they would donate $75 million to San Francisco General Hospital to help fund critical equipment and technology. The hospital became operational in April 2016. It is important to note that Mark Zuckerberg’s wife used to practice at the old San Francisco General Hospital. Zuckerberg’s donation was the biggest ever given by a private donor to a county-run public hospital. In recognition of this generous donation, the name of the hospital was changed to Priscilla and Mark Zuckerberg San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center.
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4. $100 Million for Newark Schools
Perhaps the most controversial of the 10 biggest Mark Zuckerberg donations to charity was his $100 million donation to help fix the failing schools of Newark. He announced this donation in 2010 on the Oprah Show. However well-intentioned, reports suggest that most of the money made its way into the hands of corrupt bureaucracy and costly consultants. Zuckerberg’s main intention was to reward teachers based on their performance, while penalizing those who weren’t performing well. But the contract laws of New Jersey became an impediment to this plan. The donation debacle was addressed in detail by Dale Russakoff in the book: The Prize: Who’s in Charge of America’s Schools?
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3. $120 Million for Schools in Low-Income Communities of the Bay Area
The Newark charity problems didn’t stop Mark Zuckerberg from donating to some of the country’s other schools. In 2014, Facebook’s CEO pledged $120 million for schools in low-income communities of the Bay Area. In an essay published in The Mercury News, Zuckerberg said that the money was a “drop in the bucket” compared to the challenges schools face. The money was pledged to be given through Startup:Education, an organization launched by Zuckerberg to reform educational institutions in the U.S.
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2. $1 Billion for Silicon Valley Community Foundation
In 2013, Mark Zuckerberg gave about $1 billion worth of Facebook stock as a donation to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. According to Emmett Carson, the CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, this was the biggest donation in the organization’s history. However, the statement from Zuckerberg and the Foundation lacked clarity regarding how exactly the money will be used. The money was donated as part of a large secondary stock offering from Facebook in December 2013.
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1. $45 Billion for the Advancement of the Human Race
First on the list of the 10 biggest Mark Zuckerberg donations to charity is Zuckerberg’s historic donation of 99% of his wealth to humanity. Mark Zuckerberg left the world in awe in December 2015 when he, along with his wife Priscilla Chan, pledged to give a whopping 99% of their Facebook shares for the betterment and advancement of the human race. In a detailed letter to his daughter Max Zuckerberg, the CEO of the biggest social media company in the world chronicled some of the biggest threats to humankind and delineated several ways to avoid them. The pledged number of shares had a total worth of $45 billion at that time.
However, there is a catch: the pledged amount will go to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative. An SEC filing by Facebook said after Zuckerberg’s announcement that the CEO had formed a special entity, Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC, which will received the pledged amount. Importantly, Mr. Zuckerberg intends to retain a majority voting position in the Initiative “for the foreseeable future,” according to the filing.
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