Tag: PHILANTHROPY

Chris Hughes, the co-founder of Facebook and the social media expert behind Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign, has now launched a new social network designed exclusively for social activism. The idea behind the new site, called Jumo, is to help users find causes that mean a lot to them, and strengthen their ties with other, similarly minded activists. Hughes announced the project back ...

The New York Times reports that Mark Zuckerberg, now the 35th wealthiest American according to Forbes, will announce a $100 million donation to Newark, New Jersey's troubled school system on the 'Oprah Winfrey Show' this Friday. The announcement's timing may have been carefully chosen to offset the potential public relations fiasco of David Fincher's 'The Social Network,' premiering Friday evening ...

After making millions with the travel site Kayak, Paul English has turned his gaze from building Web start-ups to being a bit of a philanthropist. Okay, that's underselling a smidgen... English has taken on one of the more ambitious projects we've ever seen. His new hybrid non-profit/for-profit company, JoinAfrica, has a stated goal of blanketing the entire continent in free and low-cost Wi-Fi. ...

Chris Hughes has a rather impressive resume. While at Harvard, he helped found Facebook with Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz. After serving as the spokesperson for what become one of the most popular social networks on the Web, Hughes was hired by the Obama campaign to help coordinate its online efforts, resulting in My.BarackObama.com (MyBO). Now Hughes is taking his knack for building ...

If following Bill Gates on Twitter just wasn't doing it for you, then hold on to your panties, Windows fans. Billy-G has launched a new Web site, called The Gates Notes, as a way to chronicle his experiences traveling the world and to share conversations he's had with experts about the issues most important to him. The site, essentially a meticulously categorized blog, offers distinct ...

There has been plenty of talk in the past few years about how the Internet and social media are going to replace everything from newspapers and TV to shopping malls and classified ads. And while hyperbolic hypotheses about the death of traditional media haven't been completely unfounded, we haven't seen a major corporation or advertiser do much to prove them, either. Until now, that is. ...

Oh, Bill Gates. Is there anything you can't do? The tech tycoon's path from college dropout to billionaire CEO has been well documented, but the man's enduring legacy may focus more on his post-Microsoft accomplishments. Gates has promised hundreds of millions of dollars to help impoverished countries with farming, and has also claimed that he will leave the bulk of his vast fortune to charity. ...

Bill Gates Sr., father of the Microsoft mogul and soon-to-be author, previewed his new autobiographical book in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal. In the interview, the Gates family patriarch discusses seminal moments in his own life, while providing a rare glimpse into the formative years of his son, the world's wealthiest man. Gates Sr., a World War II veteran and former Seattle ...

Remember Bill Gates? You may recognize him from such corporate entities as "Microsoft" and "all the companies Microsoft owns", but now he's onto something new. According to public documents, Gates's next big thing is called "bgC3 LLC" (doesn't quite roll off the tongue), and it's been described as some sort of think tank. It's not a startup, but rather a vehicle with which to manage and ...

How do things like this happen? Matt Harding, of 'Dancing' and Wherethehellismatt.com fame is looking to branch out and add charity and philanthropy to his resume, which currently consists of "world traveler" and "dancing fool." The Internet video phenom recently met with representatives from the United Nations -- seriously, this guy met with officials from the UN -- and his sponsors at Stride ...

While being the child of Bill and Melinda Gates no doubt has its share of perks, financial security may not necessarily be one of them. Bill Gates has promised that he will leave his vast $58 billion fortune to the charity started by him and his wife, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and not to his offspring. Gates -- who is officially stepping down as the chairman of Microsoft next ...

Nicholas Sullivan at the MIT Media Lab has reached a similar conclusion to the one driving Google's Grandcentral for the homeless push -- communication is the key to success. The report out of MIT claims that putting prepaid cell phones in the hands of the 38 percent of the poorest Americans without one could earn them between $2.9 billion and $11 billion a year through increased business (for the ...

Google's one phone number for everything service, GrandCentral, is getting a new trial of sorts. Google is taking its 'Do no evil' mantra to the streets of San Francisco -- literally. A partnership between Google, the San Francisco city government, and Project CARE (Communications and Respect for Everybody) is offering a free phone number and voicemail box to every homeless person in the city for ...