By John Letzing
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he has donated roughly $500 million worth of stock in the social site to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, a philanthropy research and investment group based not far from his office in Menlo Park, Calif.
In a note on his Facebook page, Zuckerberg wrote that he and his wife Priscilla have signed the so-called Giving Pledge, a philanthropy effort aimed at the wealthy and launched by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett a couple of years ago. The pledge involves promising to give away at least half of one’s fortune during his or her lifetime.
While he’s already donated funds to public schools in Newark, N.J., Zuckerberg wrote that the new donation to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation will “lay the foundation for new projects.” In particular, he writes that “together, we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next.”
On its website, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation says that last year it had $2 billion in assets under management, and awarded $235 million in grants from all of its funds in dozens of countries. The Silicon Valley Community Foundation says it gives to a broad array of causes, with the biggest share of its grantmaking going last year to education. Other categories included community building, the environment, health, arts and culture, the group says.
“Mark’s generous gift will change lives and inspire others in Silicon Valley and around the globe to give back and make the world a better place,” said Emmett Carson, Silicon Valley Community Foundation’s CEO.
Zuckerberg is making his donation in the form of 18 million shares of Facebook, which closed Tuesday at $27.71 a share. Facebook went public in May with its shares initially priced at $38 apiece, though they proceeded to dip below $20. However, the shares have risen nearly 27% in the last three months leading up to Tuesday’s close.
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