It was announced yesterday that 26 year old Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg would donate 100 million to the Newark school system this week. The school system is one of the countries worst performing and will benefit greatly from such a large contribution. The money is being donated from Zuckerberg’s private stock in Facebook which is estimated to be around the 5 billion mark.
This is one of the first major philanthropic contributions that Zuckerberg has made since rising to riches through Facebook. “While Mr. Zuckerberg has made charitable donations in the past that have not been widely reported, this is by far his largest and represents his debut as a major philanthropist.” according to the Wall Street Journal.
This type of donation puts Zuckerberg alongside the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation which gave a similar amount to a district in Tampa in recent years. Not bad company to be in at the age of 26.
This is a great sign from one of the most influential people in Generation Y and even the world. Many young people are taking up charitable and philanthropic acts but someone like Zuckerberg has the resources to change the world in ways most people can’t imagine. Even though not every 26 year old has the Zuckerberg bank account hopefully this will continue to inspire more people to donate and help causes they are passionate about.
Zuckerberg’s donation does come at a time when the highly debated movie “The Social Network” is about to release which apparently depicts him as anything but a nice guy. However lets hope that he continues this philanthropic path and not only donates more but establishes foundations and events for causes he is passionate about. The Wall Street Journal says “According to the person familiar with the discussions, Mr. Zuckerberg decided he did not want to wait until he was near his career’s end before getting involved in major philanthropy.”
