# Mark Zuckerberg’s huge pledge reflects a new era in philanthropy (HT Tech) > The huge philanthropic pledge by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, totaling perhaps $45 billion, reflects the emergence of a new Gilded Age of giving. # Mark Zuckerberg’s huge pledge reflects a new era in philanthropy ## The huge philanthropic pledge by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, totaling perhaps $45 billion, reflects the emergence of a new Gilded Age of giving. Dec 03 2015, 13:02 IST ![Follow on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/follow-us-facebook.png) ![Follow on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/follow-us-facebook-hover.png) ![Share](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Share.png) ![Share](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Shareclicked.png) ![Share on WhatsApp](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/whatsapp.png) ![Share on WhatsApp](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/whatsapp-hover.png) ![Share on Twitter](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/twitter.png) ![Share on Twitter](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/twitter-hover.png) ![Share on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/facebook.png) ![Share on Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/facebook-hover.png) ![Bookmark](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Bookmark.png) ![Bookmarked](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/Bookmarked.png) ![image caption](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/rf/image_size_800x600/HT/p2/2015/12/03/Pictures/facebook-their-chief-executive-daughter-zuckerberg-priscilla_f5c9bcdc-998f-11e5-949b-3f349c5c9a4f.jpg) In this undated photo provided by Mark Zuckerberg, Max Chan Zuckerberg is held by her parents, Mark Zuckerberg and Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg. (Mark Zuckerberg via AP) ![Author Photo](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/HTTech-new-circle-logo.png) ### By AP The huge philanthropic pledge by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, totaling perhaps $45 billion, reflects the emergence of a new Gilded Age of giving. The changes excite many in the charity world but also raise questions about effectiveness, ethics and the impact on older charities that may not share in any windfall. Foremost, there is applause for the new wave of philanthropists, led over the past five years by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett and subsequently joined by Zuckerberg and scores of other billionaires in the United States and abroad. The Giving Pledge, founded in 2010 by Gates and Buffet, now has 138 billionaire signatories from 15 countries who have pledged to give away more than half of their wealth. Many, including Zuckerberg, want to be personally engaged in the oversight and management of their pledged funds, and are finding non-traditional ways of leveraging them. Also read click here. Amir Pasic, dean of Indiana University's Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, drew parallels between these modern-day philanthropists and those from the earlier Gilded Age, roughly a century ago, when the Carnegie, Ford and Rockefeller families pioneered a new type of charitable foundation. "This new generation also is innovating - they have good reason for worrying that doing things the way they were done before may not succeed," Pasic said. "They've been disrupters in their industries, and they're looking to be disrupters in some of their philanthropic work." Pasic drew another parallel between the two Gilded Ages. In both eras, he said, income inequality was a glaring reality that seemed to accentuate the power and responsibilities of the super-rich. "There's a recognition that they should work to fix some of those problems," Pasic said. Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan, detailed their pledge on Tuesday, promising to commit 99 percent of their Facebook stock holdings to fighting disease, improving education and other causes. Their new organization will pursue its goals through a mix of charitable donations, private investment and promotion of government policy reform. According to Facebook, the new initiative will be organized as a limited liability company, rather than as a nonprofit foundation, potentially giving it the ability to do political lobbying. To some experts on philanthropy, that's an area of concern. "With sums of that size, where should we draw the line?" asked Kathleen McCarthy, director of the Center for the Study of Philanthropy at the City University of New York. "What role should the uber-rich have in shaping public policies and public opinion?" She noted that Virgin Group founder Richard Branson and some other contemporary philanthropists are eager to invest in entrepreneurs and for-profit companies, a trend which she said could blur the boundaries between business and philanthropy. In US, the funds that do go to nonprofits are generally accompanied by significant tax benefits. In effect, said professor Ray Madoff of Boston College Law School, this means that the large-scale donors are able to tackle charitable initiatives under their own name with funds that might otherwise have financed government programs. "We say, 'Wasn't Person X very generous,'" Madoff said. "But that person's investment is actually subsidized up to 60 percent by the rest of us, so there's a significant public investment in this." Another consequence, Madoff said, is a relatively smaller share of charitable gifts in the US going to traditional charities such as United Way and the American Red Cross. The biggest gainers, she said, have been donor-advised funds, which enable donors to make a charitable contribution, immediately receive a tax benefit, and then recommend grants from the fund at any time thereafter. This trend has raised some concerns, since large sums of money can sit idle in the funds' accounts for years at a time rather than going to immediate charitable use. "Why don't they make the gift directly to the charity, to address a particular need now?" asked Dwight Burlingame, a professor at the Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Pasic, the school's dean, noted that most other countries have less robust charitable sectors than the U.S. and rely more on government funding. In China, he said, the new wave of billionaires "have nowhere to put their money. There's not a nonprofit ecosystem that deals with issues like hunger and homelessness." While the Giving Pledge has attracted 138 signatures, there remain many billionaires who've made no such public commitments. Zuckerberg and Chan, in announcing their pledge, said potential donors "should not wait to give back." Read| The young philanthropist: FB CEO Zuckerberg's gifts to charity Catch all the Latest Tech News, Mobile News, Laptop News, Gaming news, Wearables News , How To News, also keep up with us on Whatsapp channel,Twitter, Facebook, Google News, and Instagram. For our latest videos, subscribe to our YouTube channel. 03 Dec, 12:09 IST 71,589,383,716,612 NEXT ARTICLE BEGINS ![View all](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/view-all-icon.png) ## Tips & Tricks ![Ghibli-style art](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### How to turn your photos into Ghibli-style art with ChatGPT for free: Step-by-step guide ![How to create an invitation using iPhone’s new Apple Invites app- Step-by-step guide](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### How to create an invitation using iPhone’s new Apple Invites app- Step-by-step guide ![Apple TV app arrives on Android phones and tablets: What you get and how to install it](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Apple TV app arrives on Android phones and tablets: What you get and how to install it ![Vodafone Idea OTT plans](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Vodafone Idea users can now stream 17 OTT apps with one subscription: Here's how ![Android data transfer methods](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### How to transfer data from one Android to another using Google backup, USB-C cable, and more ## Editor’s Pick ![iPhone 16e launched with A18 chip, Apple AI—bringing flagship power on a budget: Check specs, price](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### iPhone 16e launched in India: All details about the new budget mobile from Apple ![DeepSeek was founded in China with only a fraction of the budget of the top AI companies in the US.](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### DeepSeek AI: How it works, who’s behind it, how it’s different from ChatGPT, and its big US market impact explained ![iPhone 17 Air likely to get this feature that iPhone 17 Pro models may miss out on](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### iPhone 17 Air likely to get this feature that iPhone 17 Pro models may miss out on ![Google Whisk AI explained: How remixing works, availability, and how it differs from Gemini](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Google Whisk AI explained: How remixing works, availability, and how it differs from Gemini ![iOS 18.4 beta arriving soon: Know why it is the biggest iPhone update](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### iOS 18.4 beta arriving soon: Know why it is the biggest iPhone update ## Trending Stories ![Airtel 5G SIM card will now be delivered in 10 minutes with Blinkit- How to order](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Airtel 5G SIM card will now be delivered in 10 minutes with Blinkit- How to order ![Infinix Note 50s 5G+](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Infinix Note 50s 5G+ set to launch in India with 64MP camera and MediaTek Dimensity 7300 SoC ![Xiaomi X Pro QLED Series sale starts in India: Check price, availability, and more](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Xiaomi X Pro QLED Series sale starts in India: Check price, availability, and more ![Apple Intelligence AI training](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Apple plans to train AI using your on-device data without accessing personal content or emails: Report ![CMF Buds 2](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### CMF Buds 2 key features and price revealed ahead of April 28 launch: Details inside keep up with tech ![Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/tech-facebook.png) ![Twitter](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/tech-twitter.png) ![WhatsApp](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/tech-whatsApp.png) ![Facebook](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/tech-facebook.png) ## Gaming ![Check out these five gaming monitors under ₹20,000,](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Top 5 gaming monitors under ₹20000 you should consider ![gaming consoles](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Grab gaming consoles at discounted rates during Amazon Great Indian Festival: Up to 72% off ![Pokémon GO Wild Area 2025](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Pokémon GO Wild Area 2025 to bring Grimmsnarl family, Shiny Hatenna, and global challenges ![Shade Silver](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Shade Silver free on Steam for a limited time: Here’s how to get it ![Call of duty](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/ht-tech-bg-img-90-66.png) ### Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 skips Switch 2 at launch, release date and price leak ![View all](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/view-all-icon.png) ## Trending News ### Airtel 5G SIM card will now be delivered in 10 minutes with Blinkit- How to order ![Airtel 5G SIM card will now be delivered in 10 minutes with Blinkit- How to order](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ### Infinix Note 50s 5G+ set to launch in India with 64MP camera and MediaTek Dimensity 7300 SoC ![Infinix Note 50s 5G+](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ### Xiaomi X Pro QLED Series sale starts in India: Check price, availability, and more ![Xiaomi X Pro QLED Series sale starts in India: Check price, availability, and more](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ### Apple plans to train AI using your on-device data without accessing personal content or emails: Report ![Apple Intelligence AI training](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ### CMF Buds 2 key features and price revealed ahead of April 28 launch: Details inside ![CMF Buds 2](https://images.livemint.com/static/static/1x1_img.gif) ## Trending Gadgets Mobiles Laptops Tablets ![HT Tech](https://images.hindustantimes.com/tech/static/revamp/images/png/HT_tech-new.gif) - https://tech.hindustantimes.com/tech/news/mark-zuckerberg-s-huge-pledge-reflects-a-new-era-in-philanthropy-story-BHNjw8cK2VL97U4lcx4YqJ.html