【关键词】
philanthropy 慈善
philanthropic 慈善的
philanthropist 慈善家
open letter 公开信
Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg announced Tuesday he plans to eventually donate 99 percent of the Facebook stock owned by him and his wife Priscilla Chan, shares that are worth about $45 billion,making it one of the largest-ever philanthropic commitments. The money will be channeled into the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a newly formed group that will initially focus on education and health.
Zuckerberg said in an open letter that the birth last week of their first child — a daughter named Max — was the motivation to dedicate their considerable wealth to charitable causes now. They wrote they did not want to wait to “advance human potential and promote equality for all children.”
Zuckerberg wrote “I will continue to serve as Facebook’s CEO for many, many years to come,”, “but these issues are too important to wait until you or we are older to begin this work.”
In the open letter, Zuckerberg and Chan talked about the potential that technology offers to re-engineer the way children learn.
“Our generation grew up in classrooms where we all learned the same things at the same pace regardless of our interests or needs,” ”It will take working with the strongest leaders in education to help schools around the world adopt personalized learning. “
In 2010, Gates and Warren Buffett publicly launched the Giving Pledge to encourage billionaires to donate the bulk of their wealth to charity. Gates, the former Microsoft leader, already has given away $31.5 billion. Buffet has given away more than $22 billion and plans to eventually donate nearly his entire fortune.