Facebook's Zuckerberg Donates $499 million to Mountain View Non-Profit

It's a very Merry Christmas indeed for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The Mountain View-based non-profit received a sizeable donation of 18 million shares Tuesday from Facebook Co-Founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, which at close of market—with stocks worth $27.71—meant the gift was valued at nearly $499 million.

"We are thrilled to be able to partner with Mark and Priscilla on this extraordinary gift," said Emmett D. Carson, chief executive officer of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation on his Facebook page. "This is a great inspiration for the next generation of philanthropists."

Zuckerberg made the announcement on his Facebook page:

Today, in order to lay the foundation for new projects, we've made a contribution of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Together, we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next. I'm hopeful we'll be able to have as positive an impact in our next set of projects.

This gift is part of The Giving Pledge, a commitment by the U.S. wealthiest people, to donate the majority of their money to charity. Zuckerberg first donated to the Newark, NJ school system for work on education reform.

The SVCF helps individuals and corporations set up charitable funds whether local, national or international areas. According to their factsheet, the foundation manages $2 billion in assets.

In all of 2011 the foundation received $470 million—this one gift surpasses that total by nearly $30 million.

What do you think of Zuckerberg's donation? What kind of charity would you create with a slice of that money? Tell us in comments!

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