As you begin the next generation of the Chan Zuckerberg family, we also begin the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative to join people across the world to advance human potential and promote equality for all children in the next generation.
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Zuckerberg and his wife Dr. Priscilla Chan announced their plan on Tuesday in an open letter to their new daughter, Maxima Chan Zuckerberg.
Charitable giving isn’t new for Zuckerberg, who has been known to donate millions of dollars at a time in the past. When he was 26, he signed the Giving Pledge, which invites the world’s wealthiest individuals and families to commit to giving more than half of their wealth to philanthropy or charitable causes over their lifetime or in their will.
– Buffet pledged to donate a total of $43.6 billion in 2006 to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and three other foundations.
“Our society has an obligation to invest now to improve the lives of all those coming into this world, not just those already here”, Zuckerberg and Chan wrote in the letter.
“Our lists of the top donors are usually dominated by people in their 70s or 80s”, she said.
Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla with their daughter Max in an image posted on his Facebook page announcing the birth of their daughter in Menlo Park, California, USA, 01 December 2015.
That 99%, at Facebook’s current value, amounts to $45bn (£30bn).
In 2009 the couple launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative with the aim of “advancing human potential and promoting equality”. It will begin by focusing on curing disease, Internet connectivity, community building and personalized learning – or the idea that technology can help students learn at different paces.
“We can be confident of this: Max and every child born today will grow up in a world that is better than the one we know now”. Zuckerberg plans to take two months’ paternity leave to be a dad. Zuckerberg’s own Facebook page is followed by more than 42 million people.
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More details about the donation will be released once the new parents return from paternity and maternity leave.
