Following the lead of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, CFO Sheryl Sandberg has donated 29,000 shares, worth $31 million, to various charities.
The vast majority of Sandberg’s shares will go to causes concerned with women’s empowerment, including her own non-profit Lean-In. This move has drawn the same criticism as Zuckerberg’s earlier move, with critics claiming moving shares into charities controlled and run by you is a tax-dodge in disguise.
Sandberg is the latest in a long line of affluent entrepreneurs who have pledged to give away the majority of their wealth to charitable causes. Business magnates Bill Gates and Warren Buffet have largely driven the trend, being the first to sign the Giving Pledge in 2010.
Zuckerberg recently signed the pledge, vowing to give away 99% of his Facebook shares worth $45 billion.
Who will jump on the bandwagon and sign away their wealth next? Only time will tell. For now, it seems, the Giving Pledge is in vogue.
