Donating to charity is what the lottery is all about, as the national lotto games give away millions each year towards many worthwhile charities. No matter how much any lottery has given to date, they won't top Facebook founder Marc Zuckerberg's donation of over $40-billion that he has promised to charity "within his lifetime".
This bombshell was revealed after Zuckerberg and his wife published an open letter to their new-born daughter Max.
"Having this child has made us think about all of the things that should be improved in the world for her whole generation. The only way that we reach our full human potential is if we're able to unlock the gifts of every person around the world,"says Zuckerberg in a video released along with the letter.
Zuckerberg announced earlier this week that he plans to donate 99 percent of his Facebook shares, worth an estimated $45 billion, to charity during the course of his lifetime. Zuckerburg and wife, doctor Priscilla Chan have now formed the limited liability company the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative so that they can, in their own words "focus on personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities." Though, this isn't the couples first foray into charity.
This billionaire tech couple donated over $100 million back in 2010 to help improve the public schooling system in Newark, New Jersey. Despite this philanthropy, the Zuckerberg's were still met with stern resistance. They have also given $75 million to the San Francisco General Hospital, now named the Priscilla Chan and Mark Zuckerberg SF General Hospital.
A limited liability company means that the Zuckerberg's can use their billions in creative ways that are usually limited by charitable donations of this size. A non-profit company, for instance, is unable to change any laws or make sizeable investments in companies. By investing and turning over an even greater profit, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative will be able to sustain itself well into the future. And its focus will be to lobby for changes in the US government, concerning benefits for the underprivileged.
Zuckerberg has said that he will be the chief stockholder of Facebook "for the foreseeable future" and in the meanwhile, will sell or gift no more than $1 billion in Facebook stock every year for three years, just to kick off his charitable donations. The Zuckerberg's now join Bill Gates and Marc Benioff as tech billionaires who've donated billions of their hard-earned cash to those in need.
