The founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg, made a promise in an open letter to his newborn baby girl Max to give away 99% of his shares in Facebook during his lifetime. He promised to give away the money for: curing diseases, personalized learning, building strong communities and connecting people. He made his statement by writing an open letter on his personal Facebook page.
Mark and his wife Priscilla Chan opened the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, which is a limited liability company, not a charitable trust or charity. The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is controlled and owned by Zuckerberg himself.
“The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will pursue its mission by funding non-profit organizations, making private investments and participating in policy debates, in each case with the goal of generating a positive impact in areas of great need. Any profits from investments in companies will be used to fund additional work to advance the mission,” explained the spokesperson of the Initiative.
In the month of November the investments included:
- $5 million in MasteryConnect, a teaching software
- $20 million to help connect American classrooms to fast and reliable internet
- $10 million in Bridge international academies
- $5 million to TheDream. US to help undocumented immigrants, in San Francisco attend college
- $15 million in AltSchool, an education initiative focusing on personalized learning and technology
Zuckerberg’ is not the only person who has given this promise. Bill Gates has also promised to give away 95% of his wealth to his private foundation, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Warren Buffett, who has promised 99% of his wealth to Bill and Melinda’s Foundation.