Facebook Founder Donates $100 Million
Mark Zuckerberg Founder and CEO of Facebook announced Friday that he would donate $100 million of company stock to help Startup: Education, which is aimed at improving public education in Newark, N.J in partnership with Newark Mayor Cory A. Booker, and New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
Zuckerberg made the announcement of his gift while on “The Oprah Winfrey Show”, which gave a big push in his own social status. But the gift isn’t the only thing Zuckerberg is getting press for now.
The new film “The Social Network” which premiered Friday is bringing a different kind of fame to the social mogul. The movie portrays him as a college student that took whatever means necessary to assert full control over Facebook, including backstabbing and walking over his colleagues.
The gift has been praised in the philanthropy world. “It is truly exceptional for any age group,” said Patrick M. Rooney, executive director of the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, which tracks giving. “Clearly when you look at most philanthropists, significant gifts like these are made late in life or after death. For someone to do this in their 20s is mind-boggling.”
Mr. Rooney also stated that this is only the third time this year that a gift of $100 million or more has been made in the United States. Only six donations this size or larger were made last year he said.
Mr Zuckerberg has been propelled to the stratosphere of fame on both ends of the good and evil spectrum, and along with the praise comes criticism.
David Kirkpatrick author of “The Facebook Effect”, a book about the company said “I don’t think anybody gives $100 million to anything if they are not thinking to some degree how it sheds light on their beneficence, Otherwise they give anonymously.”
This is exactly what Mr. Zuckerberg had planned to do, until Mr Booker persuaded him otherwise, hoping that having Mr. Zuckerberg’s name attached to the gift would challenge New Jersey officials to raise matching funds.
So it appears that even if you give $100 million to a good cause, you can still look like a bad guy, but it appears that he has wanted to do something like this for a while. “I really wanted to get started giving back at a young age,” he said.