There goes the reputation of young techies as profligate spenders who don’t care about others.
Perhaps spurred by the boom economy, 12 people who made their wealth in tech have appeared on The Chronicle of Philanthropy‘s list of top 50 donors in 2014, compared to six the prior year.
Topping the list were Bill and Melinda Gates, who gave more than $1.5 billion to their family foundation, which addresses extreme poverty and provides health care to people globally.
Among the top 50 donors, tech entrepreneurs of all ages accounted for nearly half of the amount donated.
And among young techies, people under 50 gave away $2.5 billion in 2014, up nearly 80 percent from the year before.
Jan Koum, 38, co-founder of messaging company WhatsApp, was ranked No. 4 on the Chronicle’s list.
After Facebook purchased his firm for $21 billion, he gave $556 million to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. He has not said what nonprofits or causes he will support, the publication said. But Koum has given $1 million to FreeBSD Foundation, which offers a free open-source operating system.
No. 5 on the list was Sean Parker, who gave $550 million to the Sean N. Parker Foundation and to his donor-advised fund. Late last year, the 35-year-old billionaire investor and founder of Napster gave a $24 million grant to establish the Sean N. Parker Center for Allergy Research at Stanford University.
Nicholas and Jill Woodman, ages 39 and 38, were No. 6 for giving the Silicon Valley Community Foundation shares of GoPro, the company they co-founded. The value was at about $500 million. They are starting a donor-advised fund, the Jill + Nicholas Woodman Foundation.
Other tech notables on the list included Sergey Brin (No. 9), Paul Allen (No. 10), Pierre and Pam Omidyar (No. 12), Marc and Lynne Benioff (No. 14).
Other things worth noting from a separate Chronicle article:
- The Silicon Valley Community Foundation is by far the nation’s wealthiest community foundation.
- The under-40 donors were likely to put their money in foundations and other endowments for later distribution. But when they do target, there is an emphasis on promoting immediate change.
Above: Jan Koum