Mark Zuckerberg Charity Donation

In a surprise announcement today, Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have pledged to donate 99 percent of their Facebook shares to the cause of human advancement. That represents roughly $45 billion at Facebook's current valuation, making it one of the largest pledges in history. The money will go to the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a company that Facebook says will "pursue its mission by funding non-profit organizations, making private investments and participating in policy debates, in each case with the goal of generating positive impact in areas of great need

Facebook is currently trading at $55 per share, so Zuckerberg's gift is worth just under $1 billion.

The money will go toward Zuckerberg's foundation, the Silicon Valley Community Foundation andThe Breakthrough Prize In Life Science, a Noble Prize-like award. 2013 was a year in which there was a serious backlash against the idealism of Silicon Valley. And yeah, the industry does deserve some flack for talking about changing the world with iPhone games and photo-sharing apps. And sure, you can see why people in San Francisco might protest over Google buses using public bus stops. And sure, sometimes tech industry people say dumb, mean things about the homeless. It all adds up to a sense, recently articulated by Business Insider's Jim Edwards, that Silicon Valley is living inside a bubble of tone-deaf arrogance

The full amount is pledged over the course of Zuckerberg's life, and the Facebook CEO plans to maintain his majority voting position "for the foreseeable future," according to an SEC filing. In the immediate future, the Initiative will be funded by a series of three annual donations made from the sale of Zuckerberg's stock, at no more than $1 billion each year. Profits made by any of the Initiative's investment will be used for additional work to advance its goals.

The initiative's announcement, which is written as a letter to Zuckerberg and Chan's newborn child, focuses on two central goals: advancing human potential and promoting equality. The first goal is defined as "pushing the boundaries on how great a human life can be," including initiatives on medicine, economic opportunity, and access to information. The second group of projects focus more on alleviating poverty and empowering traditionally underrepresented groups. "Our society must do this not only for justice or charity, but for the greatness of human progress," the letter reads.