Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg donates nearly $1 billion to charity

Mark Zuckerberg this month is donating nearly $1 billion worth of Facebook stock to a Silicon Valley charity as part of a pledge he’s taken to devote half of his wealth to philanthropy.

In total, Zuckerberg is donating 18 million shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation, which gives grants to other nonprofit organizations in the region that work in areas ranging from education to the environment.

Based on the current price of Facebook’s stock, the donation is worth about $985 million. The foundation said it is by far the largest donation in its history.

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Neither Zuckerberg, Facebook nor the foundation has disclosed how the donation will be used.

This isn’t the first time Zuckerberg has donated to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. A year ago, Zuckerberg gave the foundation the same amount of shares, but at the time they were only worth about $500 million. He has made other notable donations to organizations throughout the years.

The move comes alongside a large sale of stock by the company that will raise about $1.5 billion.

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