Facebook Inc (NASDAQ:FB)’s COO, Sheryl Sandberg has donated 29,000 of her Facebook shares to a charity. In an SEC filing report that was recently released, the COO has donated the shares to a charity organization. Market estimates place the 29,000 Facebook shares that Sandberg has donated to a whopping $31 million.
The money that has been donated will go into supporting many different initiatives that Sandberg has been concerned with in the recent past. For instance, a large amount of the money is expected to go into supporting her efforts at helping women to get women empowered. The women empowerment efforts have been carried out under the Lean In programme. By pumping more money into the programme, it is expected that more women empowerment initiatives will be seen.
Another programme that is likely to benefit from the donation is the Stand Up for Kids campaign. This is a programme that seeks to help kids in poor neighbourhoods grow up in healthy surroundings. The programme has been active in the two counties of Santa Clara and San Moteo. Given that Sandberg co-chairs the campaign, it is expected that the campaign stands to benefit a lot from the donation.
According to Recode, all these missions shall be carried out under the auspices of Sheryl Sandberg Philanthropy Fund. This is an organization that Sandberg uses for her philanthropy activities. The organization is governed by a team of representatives from the donor community. The team gives valuable advice on how to spend donor funds on programmes that are not only sustainable but are also expected to have a high level of impact on the society.
Recode believes that as a result of the recent move, Sandberg stands to be given a tax break in relation to capital gains.
The move by Sandberg to make such a donation of personal wealth to charity is not new. In the recent past, senior corporate executives have been giving a huge percentage of their personal fortunes to charity. For some time now, many highly wealthy individuals have been making the commitment to contribute their money to charity. Known as The Giving Pledge, this programme has attracted individuals from the global corporate world to other sectors of the economy. It is instructive that Sandberg appended her signature to the agreement back in 2014.
Mark Zuckerberg, her boss at Facebook, has also been on the forefront in donating huge amounts of personal wealth to charity. He recently pledged to give away nearly all that he owns at Facebook to charity before he dies.
