I came across a few negative comments and articles about Mark Zuckerberg‘s $100 million donation to the Newark public school system yesterday, and to be honest Im pretty baffled by it. Ok so there is a film coming out about facebook in the coming weeks that, apparently, doesnt show him in a great light, so people are saying he is only making this donation to look good.
Seriously? 100 million to look good? Im sure there are a lot of other things he could have done to look good. And really who cares, the end result is a $100 million donation to the Newark public school system…and it probably wont stop there, this guy is obviously smart and he wants to make sure kids in the US get a great education.
Its disappointing that the first thing peope do is knock something like this, it certainly cant help encourage others to do something similar (which is what we need). It was equally disappointing to see the silence from not for profits, leaders should have been out there saying how great it was that he was doing this.
So from me (for whatever its worth)…well done Mark Zuckerberg.
(nice piece from cnn here)
Conor Byrne's Blog 
Not something I get really either, he may or may not be a very nice person, but he doesn’t do anything intrinsically immoral to make his money so I would have no problem with his donation. I agree with you – who cares why he’s doing it, the fact is it will make a difference to the kids and ultimately that’s all that matters.
Naoise, thanks so much for the comment, Im so glad you agree with me, I found it really frustrating yesterday that people were knocking him, glad Im not alone
I’m with you 150% Conor! Zuck’s character is irrelevant here; what’s striking is his focused giving (education) that’s taking an innovative shape (giving to a city rather than a nonprofit – a city led by an incredibly energized, imaginative mayor) at such a high level.
Our town adjoins Newark and I tell you folks there–citizens, elected officials and nonprofits–are working hard for change. Perhaps Zuck will end of funding a new model of social change?
In a time where there’s a real deficit of good news, this is some great news! I’m eager to see how the project evolves and hope that Zuckerberg continues to share his wealth in such productive ways.
Nancy..thanks. Im doubly not alone now in my thinking. Im glad. It will be great to see how this develops and what it leads to…at 26 to achieve what he has achieved and to be able to think about others is great (can think of lots of people with decades on him that havent gotten there yet!) And as you rightly point out…its a productive way of sharing his wealth.
Thanks for reading, Conor
I think it’s jealousy. probably half the people that are slating him for giving the money wouldn’t give half as much if they had what he has.
he’s changed people’s lives with facebook – reunited people, made socialising easier etc etc.
Fantastic innovation of something that we, the users, don’t pay for – he deserves the money he’s made from it, and yet he’s willing to share it. who cares what HIS reasons for doing it are – he’s doing it! That will make a difference to kids who need it!
Thanks so much for the comment, you are so right, who cares (or who should care) why he is doing it.
I can only applaude Mark Zuckerberg’s gesture and I hope there are others who will follow. Good deeds are good deeds regardless of who does them.
It infuriates me how people can put other people’s good efforts down so easily. Are all those people going to start their own ‘outraged’ movement to raise $100 (or bettter yet, $1,000) million to show mr. Zuckerberg their morally higher league doesn’t need his ‘questionable’ donation to tackle education problems in America? I’m sorry to say I doubt it very much… but they will still try to fool you, me, themselves and make us believe that, somehow, they are better people than Mark Zuckerberg
Now that is really putting it to the critics, its all too easy to sit there and give out about what someone else is doing, how about doing something about it…an outraged movement…love it!
What really gets me is the fact that nobody is questioned when they DON’T give money. It’s generally (by which I mean by the general public, not people like Peter Singer) accepted that it’s okay to not give, but then when someone does give a huge amount of money it can produce outage. I don’t understand. The outrage and questioning should be directed at the folks who don’t give anything back. I’m not saving everyone needs to give their fortune away, but EVERYONE has the potential to give something. Whether it’s a monetary or time, everyone has at least one of those to give away.
People need to take a step back and take a look at the big picture. Zuckerbergs’ grant is going to change the lives of so many people (so long as his money isn’t thrown away by the school board) and the legacy of these changes will live on indefinately. I think it’s amazing when ANYONE gives any amount of money, for whatever reason. Everyone has different motivations for giving, and in the end, I don’t think it’s the motivation that really matters. It’s the fact that lives will be changed, and lives will be saved.
Exactly. What is all the fuss about? 100 million in Newark? Don’t we all think this is a good thing if it’s used right? Sure, there’s a lot of pressure bec of Bill Gates and Warren Buffet’s initiatives about wealth in general but here’s the good news. Zuckerburg is a very young man – if he starts giving this way now, who knows what he can do in the future.
Thanks Beth for the comment, really great to see so many people agree, the potential of this donation is huge and surely is getting younger people to think about philanthropy too