The holiday season is here and that means it's time for all of us to look at what we can spare for those less fortunate. That includes Sheryl Sandberg, the billionaire COO of Facebook, who recently made a commendable gift to a good cause or causes in the form of a tidy sum of Facebook stock – although the precise nature of those good causes has yet to be revealed.
CNN reports that the gift was made to the Sheryl Sandberg & Dave Goldberg Family Fund back in November, and disclosed via a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. It's made up of 880,000 shares of Facebook stock valued at nearly $122 per share, for a total value of more than $100 million. Sandberg has started two non-profit organizations – Lean In, a group that supports women and girls in professional and creative endeavors, and OptionB.org, focused on support for individuals suffering after the loss of a loved one – that would seem to be likely options for receiving part or all of the gift. Other groups that are likely to be high on Sandberg's shortlist of recipients include the Second Harvest Food Bank and Kara, another grief support organization.
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Regardless of which organizations end up getting Sandberg's $100 million gift, there's sure to be more where it came from, as she's one of many billionaires to sign Warren Buffett's The Giving Pledge, an agreement by the very wealthiest to give away at least 50 percent of their money. But even as a famously generous billionaire, Sandberg's gift is noteworthy – for comparison's sake, she reportedly gave away $31 million worth of Facebook stock last year. Hopefully, she will be able to top herself again in 2017.
