Giving to Children

In Mark Zuckerberg Vows to Donate 99% of His Facebook Shares for Charity, the author shares,

“Yet they are entering largely uncharted waters with a charity effort of such scale. They have not yet detailed how the money will be spent and the pace at which the money will be given out indicates they plan to take their time.”

I think this is a commendable action to take but I hope that the money is actually used how they intend for it to be used. I wish that someday I could be in the position to do something like this. 

It scares me when I see this and think of how much of the money will be wasted on the trickle-down process. A lot of it will be spent on administration costs and other fees. I picture the money at the top of the tree and children at the bottom of the tree. All of the branches at near the top are like hands from others who want a piece of the share before it ever reaches the bottom where it was intended.

I see that his wife is a pediatrician and I hope that she will be a hands-on philanthropist and not just an armchair one.

I see this attitude shift when I see teachers who become administrators and then move on to school boards. They get so far removed from the classroom that they lose sight of what it is actually like to work with the children. Things that look good on paper, TV, or the public spotlight look good but not all of these things actually are effective in the real situations.

When I mentioned my concerns to my husband, he asked me how could it be done. How could the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative make the money actually reach the ones that it is intended for? This initiative will focus on health and education. 

I would like to see teachers submit proposals for research-based practices that would work in their classroom. Maybe they don’t have the money for the materials and equipment to follow through with this strategy.  Some of the situations may not even call for tons of money but the money would have to be used for the items in the proposal (proof of purchase and documentation of student progress would have to be sent in).  Maybe there would be a limit to the number of proposals sent in each year. But I think the proposals should be sent to a committee representing the Initiative and chosen from them. The less administrative steps involved, the less loss of revenue would occur during the process.  As a former teacher, I would love to be on this committee and inspired by the ideas of practicing teachers who love their students so much that they are willing to take the time and energy to try to advocate for their needs.

I’m not sure this is the best way but it was the first one that I could think of.  Do you have any other ideas on how the charity could be implemented? Please share.