Mark Zuckerberg took to Facebook today to pen a heartfelt letter to newborn daughter, Max. Within the body of the letter, Zuckerberg sets out to explore the positives and negatives of the world that he and wife Priscilla Chan will be raising Max in.
In it, the two — through the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative — pledged 99 percent of their Facebook shares over their lifetimes to making progress on the points outlined within the letter.
The current value of those shares? $45 billion.
The letter explores hope in the fact that technology is bridging divides between cultures, curing disease and making it possible to at least envision a world without poverty.
He also notes the things we need to work on, such as better allocation of research money aimed at preventing disease, rather than just throwing money where the profit is, in treating it.
The letter touched on how to progress as a species by advancing human potential, promoting equality and ensuring the underrepresented have a voice.
He aims to complete these tasks through engagement in the community, longer term investments in the future and participating in policy and advocacy to help shape the narrative around the issues we’re currently facing.
The letter details a lot of the fine work that the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative is already working on.
November 29, for example saw the launch of the Breakthrough Energy Coalition, a partnership that saw the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative join forces with Bill Gates and 25 other private investors from 10 countries to invest in alternative energy startups.
September saw Chan and Zuckerberg donate $5 million to MasteryConnect, a platform designed to help classrooms adopt competency-based curriculum and measure results to improve learning outcomes.
In January the foundation donated $75 million in the form of a grant provided to San Francisco General Hospital and Trauma Center. The grant provided the hospital with new state of the art equipment and technology and was sort of a passion project as Chan currently works there as a pediatrician.
This year alone, the Chan Zuckerberg Foundation has donated over $125 million to its causes.
Change won’t be easy, but it appears Zuckerberg and Chan are willing to put their money where their mouth is and lead the way. Kudos.
➤ A letter to our daughter [Facebook]
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