Pledge Met for A Glimmer of Hope

It was deeply upsetting to see how you treated A Glimmer of Hope, the family foundation that funds and supports humanitarian projects in Ethiopia, in “Donations Dried Up With Tech Stocks” (Oct. 13).

Contrary to the damaging impression created by your article, our pledge of $100 million to the foundation has been honored and grants of $6 million have been made over the last two years.

The article failed to report that our family gifted 4.45 million shares of Charles Schwab stock. At the time of Schwab’s CyBerCorp acquisition, in March 2000, the Schwab stock was valued at $25 per share, so the stock donated was valued at $110 million. Schwab, along with the stock market, has subsequently declined, and the present value of our foundation’s capital fund is $57 million.

We view this as a substantial amount of capital that is now fully diversified and invested to grow over the long term, and it continues to generate funding for a robust grants program.

Philip and Donna Berber

A Glimmer of Hope

Austin, Texas