Zuckerberg donates $500 million to local foundation Issues Beyond Palo Alto, posted by Editor, Palo Alto Online, on Dec 19, 2012 at 10:49 am
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday that he is giving nearly $500 million in Facebook stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation -- its largest donation ever.
Read the full story here Web Link posted Tuesday, December 18, 2012, 11:45 PM
Posted by Matt, a resident of the Duveneck/St. Francis neighborhood, on Dec 19, 2012 at 11:27 am
CrescentParkResident, do you have any data for that? Or are you just taking a few widely reported abuses and tarring a whole category. I am on the board of three local non-profits in the area and know many others. The staffs are not well paid at all. They do it out of dedication to the mission. Cheap shots like yours don't help. If you have data, use it. Otherwise ask yourself if you are really doing any good.
Posted by question, a member of the Palo Alto High School community, on Dec 19, 2012 at 1:22 pm
Question: can the foundation cash out of the stock holding now and get the cash to be in a position to make huge grants- or are they required to hang onto the stock?
Posted by musical, a resident of the Palo Verde neighborhood, on Dec 19, 2012 at 3:48 pm
I hadn't been aware of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation until now. Looks like a good solution for people (or corporations) who have more money than they know what to do with. Meaning most of us can donate $100 here and $100 there hoping it is spent effectively. But if we had serious life-changing money to spare, then we might want some guidance and professional vetting of the recipient charities or causes.
And this kind of money is not handed out all at once. It is invested with the intention that the earnings and part of the principal gets donated each year for the life of the endowment which could be perpetual. I presume the Foundation will sell the Facebook shares in an orderly fashion and add the funds to its present $2 billion managed portfolio. Zuck can direct where his share of the donations go each year or leave it up to a committee. I trust that somebody will correct me here if I've oversimplified or am all wet.
Learn about the Silicon Valley Community Foundation at Web Link
Says their endowment has been earning 12% annually over the past 3 years. They made over 10,000 grants in 2011 totaling almost a quarter billion. I perused the list and found big dollars to such as the Red Cross, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Khan Academy, Lucile Packard Foundation, several environmental organizations, Second Harvest, Boys & Girls Clubs, and on and on. And internationally to dozens of other countries.
Posted by Mom, a resident of the Green Acres neighborhood, on Dec 20, 2012 at 11:14 am
Thank you, Mark and Priscilla, we feel blessed that you are a part of the community. Silicon Valley Community Foundation will I'm sure do great things with your gift!