Mark Zuckerburg's first formal announcement of his and his wife's giving goals follows a path long set by philanthropists of old, without the colossal foundations.
"Mark Zuckerberg is now the seventh richest person in the world, with a net worth of $46 billion—which is way up from a year ago, thanks to how Facebook stock has lately soared. (Zuckerberg owns over 20 percent of the company.) That same run up in stock value means that the millions of shares that Zuck has set aside for philanthropy in a donor-advised fund may now be worth over $3 billion, assuming those shares haven’t been sold since they were donated.
"Which is to say that at the age of 31, Mark Zuckerberg already controls one of the 25 largest philanthropic stashes in the United States. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have also signed the Giving Pledge, promising to give away the bulk of their fortune, with a preference for deploying those resources sooner rather than later. If Facebook’s stock climbs higher in coming decades, this fortune could easily exceed that of either Bill Gates or Warren Buffett."--David Callahan, Inside Philanthropy
