Tech's Rich And Famous: Who's Most Charitable?
Silicon Valley may have a reputation for greed, but these tech execs gave more than $1.7 billion in contributions last year.
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Not everyone likes the Bay Area's housing prices, which have been driven up by tech-industry salaries and stock options. Not everyone likes Google's private buses. But contrary to some beliefs, not everyone in Silicon Valley is greedy, stingy, or elitist, either.
According to The Chronicle of Philanthropy, which this week released its 14th annual Philanthropy 50 List, donations from American philanthropists in 2013 totaled $7.7 billion. Of that, $1.77 billion came from six of Silicon Valley's own tech execs. The year before, the same number of tech philanthropists donated $1.15 billion.
The Chronicle gathered information about large donations made by individuals to organizations with charity or foundation status under section 501(c)3. To make this year's Philanthropy 50 list, a donor had to give at least $37.5 million. Donors came from a number of industries, including insurance, real estate, finance, healthcare, and technology.
[Is Silicon Valley too stingy? Debate business diversity: Silicon Valley's 1%: Stinginess Is Not The Problem.]
This year's donations broke records, according to the Chronicle, up 4% from 2012. The median gift reached a peak of $86.1 million -- the highest to date -- and the $6.2 billion that philanthropists pledged was nearly equal to that in the previous two years combined, it said.
Most members of the list are male; 23 earned their wealth in either finance or investments, 12 in real estate, six in technology, and the rest from inheritances or other pursuits.
This year's top technology donors were comprised of both newcomers and veterans who gifted money to a variety of causes: community and private foundations, human-services groups, and colleges and universities.
Five of them have signed The Giving Pledge, a commitment by the wealthiest individuals and families to dedicate a majority of their wealth to philanthropy. The pledge was started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffet in 2010. Today, it's signed by more than 120 of the world's wealthiest people.
Which of Silicon Valley's wealthiest made this year's list? Here's a look at who they are, how much they donated, and where their money went.
No. 1: Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan
Topping the list is Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, who donated 18 million shares of Facebook stock to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation in Mountain View, Calif. Their donation is estimated at $992.2 million.
According to the Chronicle, the couple donated the same number of Facebook shares to the fund in 2012, which totaled $498.8 million. In 2010, Zuckerberg pledged $100 million to establish Startup: Education, a foundation to support programs to improve schools in Newark, N.J.
While Zuckerberg and Chan aren't strangers to the Philanthropy 50 List, they are unique: They are the youngest couple to ever top the list, which this year had a median age of 72.5. Zuckerberg and Chan are both under 30.
Pierre and Pam Omidyar, both 46, donated $225 million in 2013 to HopeLab, a nonprofit that develops technology to help critically ill children; Humanity United, a humanitarian nonprofit that fights global slavery and mass atrocities; and the Ulupono Initiative, an environmental organization that focuses on local agriculture and sustainable energy. Mr. Omidyar is the founder of eBay; Ms. Omidyar is the chairperson of HopeLab.
The couple has made the Chronicle of Philanthropy's top 50 list 10 times since 2000. This year, their donations earned them the number-two spot among technology's top givers, and the number-seven spot overall.
Google co-founder Sergey Brin and Anne Wojcicki, co-founder of genetic-testing company 23andMe, donated $219 million in 2013. The couple, both 40, gave $187 million to their Brin Wojcicki Foundation, which supports a handful of nonprofits including Ashoka, an organization that brings together social entrepreneurs to work on education, the environment, and women's issues; and Tipping Point Community, a charity that seeks to eliminate poverty in Northern California. They also donated $23 million to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research.
The couple has appeared on the list since 2011. Brin and Wojcicki's donations earned them the No. 9 spot overall.
Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft and founder of investment company Vulcan Capital, donated $206 million last year. Allen, 61, gave $200 million to his Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, which supports education, social service programs, and arts and culture. He also gave $6 million to the EMP Museum, which he created in 2000. The museum is dedicated to pop culture, rock music, and science fiction.
Allen has appeared on the list since 2002. This year, he claims the No. 11 spot overall.
Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda were not included in this year's top 50 list because they were paying off their pledge of about $3.3 billion that they made in 2004. Nonetheless, the couple donated more than $181.3 million in 2013, which still would have earned them the No. 5 spot among tech's top philanthropists.
Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison donated $72.2 million to his Lawrence Ellison Foundation, which supports biomedical research, education, global health and development, and wildlife conservation, among other causes. Ellison's gift includes Oracle stock valued at more than $66.7 million and land valued at $5.5 million.
Ellison, 69, has appeared on the Chronicle's list 12 times since 2000. Last year, his gifts of $45.6 million earned him the 29th spot; this year, he comes in at No. 26 overall.
James Clark, co-founder of a number of tech companies including Netscape and Silicon Graphics, debuted on this year's list at No. 36 overall. Clark, 69, donated $60 million to Stanford University's James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, which he helped the university found in 1999 with a $90 million gift.
James Clark, co-founder of a number of tech companies including Netscape and Silicon Graphics, debuted on this year's list at No. 36 overall. Clark, 69, donated $60 million to Stanford University's James H. Clark Center for Biomedical Engineering and Sciences, which he helped the university found in 1999 with a $90 million gift.
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