December 20, 2012

Who received $500 million from Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg?

By: The Bridgespan Group
On Tuesday, Facebook CEO and Founder Mark Zuckerberg announced via a status update that he would contribute 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. "Together, we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next," he wrote. "I'm hopeful we'll be able to have as positive an impact in our next set of projects.”

Zuckerberg, who signed the Giving Pledge two years ago, is part of a new breed of philanthropists who are donating significant portions of their money to charitable causes. This donation, valued at nearly $500 million, is more than four times the total of the foundation’s grants last year, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and is topped this year only by Warren Buffett’s $2 billion gift to the foundations led by his three children.

Generation differences: Silicon Valley Community Foundation CEO says younger philanthropists exhibit four differences from older donors

Emmett Carson, founding CEO of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, says that today’s young donors are changing what it looks like to be a philanthropist by taking big risks and engaging actively in their giving. They "want to engage; they want partnerships," he notes. What kind of organization is the Silicon Valley Community Foundation to earn the honor of Zuckerberg's funding and involvement? You can learn more about it from our Conversations with Remarkable Givers interviews with Carson, who gives his thoughts on philanthropic collaboration, the future of community foundations, and more.

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