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Eminentoes
The Good Face, Not the Good Book
Beware of Mark Zuckerberg bearing gifts.
In wonderful news on the philanthropy front, Mark Zuckerberg has contributed 500 million dollars to… well, to an organization that will spawn a subsidiary foundation to contribute to… well, a funding mechanism that will facilitate his ability to contribute to… well, to things involving education and its ability to contribute to… well, to the general wellbeing of society and its ability to contribute to… well, Mark Zuckerberg’s reputation. And the government.
It is too early to predict just who if anyone will benefit from this “gift” to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Take a look at this organization’s website and it becomes clear they are sitting on quite a gold mine. They boast of two billion dollars under management, with a smorgasbord of investment options for these funds.
In essence, you take your half-billion and donate it instantly by putting it into a mutual fund of your choice. You actually retain control of the money, deciding how it is invested. In the meantime, plenty of nice commissions and salaries are being generated for the fund managers. Credit for your generosity is cashed in immediately and so is your tax deduction.
In your mind, the money is still yours, sitting there and growing nicely. You can use it as bargaining chips and leverage for future business deals, for public relations, even granting salaried positions to your relatives down the line if you choose. In a year from now or ten years from now, you may hear that Zuckerberg gave ten million dollars to a school somewhere, becoming a hero all over again by using the same money.
All of this would be tolerable if there was a likelihood that really good things would result from this fund being established. In the case of the Walton family foundation, real money is given out to help real parents choose private schools they could otherwise not afford. For this reason it is widely scorned by public school teachers and unions. They claim it is fostering a culture of “corporatism” in education, whatever that means. I just know that for people like me who would never dream of raising a child without a religious education, Walton grants have been — you should excuse the expression — a godsend.
But a person of Zuckerberg’s sensibility would never indulge in such insolence toward the New York Times editorial-page narrative of reality. Indeed he crows that this new 500 million comes on the heels of his earlier 100 million of which he is “very proud.” This money was given to create something called Startup:Education. A visit to its website indicates that it went up in 2010. The site has three areas, totaling about ten lines of text, two pictures, and a 60-second video from Bill Gates. It regretfully informs you that is not accepting unsolicited grant requests at this time.
Apparently all that cash went straight into the Newark, New Jersey, public school system. The “goal” is to make it the model for others. Fabulous. School choice means choosing the one the government tells you to choose, reminding us of the old Wendy’s hamburger ads (here and here).
Why do I have trouble envisioning the bold new frontiers of literacy and science expanding outward from Newark to the nation and then to the world? Instead I see the usual suspects, these puffed-up charlatans (community organizers, anyone?) running these hollow non-profits that are the liberal version (Clinton Global Initiative, anyone?) of the old CIA shell companies. They hold big conferences at fancy hotels and discuss “program development,” letting themselves eat the cake.
And they are lousy tippers. Wouldn’t want to waste that good charity money on the hired help…
Taking hundreds of millions of dollars out of the private sector in profits and then returning it to the public sector for bureaucrats to cannibalize, channeling it via this intermediate non-profit sector for its vultures to pick over, is not my idea of charity. My children go to the same kinds of Jewish schools I attended, with incredibly talented and devoted staff, at best underpaid, often several months in arrears on payroll.
You give these schools a hundred million dollars and they will turn out jewels, the builders of a beautiful future for our society. Then again they will do that anyway; without the preening and misguided donors, without the chirping and manipulative middlemen.
That is the saddest truth, but the happiest truth at the same time. The good folks keep their heads down and plod on, doing the right thing at great personal cost. It is they who make the real difference. The showy types go for the flash and in the end provide little real help.
About the Author
Jay D. Homnick, commentator and humorist, is a frequent contributor to The American Spectator. He also writes for Human Events. Here he speaks at the Rally for Religious Freedom in Miami on June 8, 2012.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (30) | Leave a comment
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Darin| 12.21.12 @ 6:56AM
Championing freedom means championing someone's right to use their money in ways they see fit (as long as it's legal). Mr. Zuckerberg has done so. Good for him. It's a sad individual who says they support freedom and condemns another for not exercising that freedom in the "approved" manner.
Doctor_X| 12.21.12 @ 7:51AM
Darin
I will agree with the point you made, my favourite poet Kahil Gibran wrote this about giving:
"See first that you yourself deserve to be a giver, and an instrument of giving. "
He is saying before you judge if somneone is "worthy" of your giving you should ask if you yourself are worthy to give.
However I will agree with Mr. Homnick by quoting the poet again:
"You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give. "
just some points to think about....
Doctor_X
c. j. acworth| 12.21.12 @ 10:37AM
Another thing to consider when giving is the motive behind it. Is Mr.Zuckerberg just grandstanding and playing for approval by all the "right" people? The author seems to think so, though I have no idea what is in the man's heart. Here's what I was taught: "When you give alms, don't give as the Pharisee's do, to be seen by men. I tell you truely, they have their reward. When you give, give in secret. Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, and your Heavenly Father, who sees in secret will reward you." Again, I don't know what motivates Mr. Zuckerberg, but I do know I am not qualified to judge.
Appleby| 12.21.12 @ 7:36AM
When some friend of Mark Twain complained that some wealthy man's money was "tainted," Twain replied, "Yep. Taint yours, and taint mine."
Joellen| 12.21.12 @ 8:21AM
$100 Million donated to Newark, NJ schools by Zuckerberg and what does Newark schools have to show for it, lowest math and reading skills as of this date. By the way, has anyone done an account of where exactly the money went to - would be beneficial to know.
Rhoetus| 12.21.12 @ 9:36PM
Sending pupils to private schools or private tutors would be a better solution but it's his call. Government is a God to many, obviously Zuckerberg didn't read Dr. Sowell's book: "Inside American Education."
SUBVET| 12.23.12 @ 10:13AM
Teachers union................
John Navratil| 12.21.12 @ 8:23AM
Zuckerberg is throwing this money down a rat hole. But, it's his money and his identified charity. Perhaps it would have been better had he given the money to those who pay the school taxes, directly. The school would have still gotten the money and a few more "consultants" with nothing but big lecturns and hungry bellies would have had to ply their trade elsewhere.
Bob K| 12.21.12 @ 9:30AM
There must be a bigger tax break doing it this way.
Bob K| 12.22.12 @ 10:11PM
And it certainly beats keeping it and dieing owning it and then having it subject to that terrible, terrible Death Tax! Heaven Forbid!
Don'tcha think?
Nancy in NC| 12.21.12 @ 8:29AM
True charity is that given without fanfare and in anonymity. I don't care what Zuckerberg does with his money, but it appears he's only fooling himself (and the rest of us if we buy it).
Appleby| 12.21.12 @ 9:03AM
Right: Matthew Chapter 6. "When you give charity, do not blow a trumpet on the street corner so that others may know how pious you are. "
Murl| 12.21.12 @ 9:33AM
Anything that Zuckerburg is attached to should be met with skepticism and scorn. He is an selfish, evil, and despicable human being. Anything perpetrated by him should be consider an exercise in selfishness and narcissism. If I stumbled upon Mark Zuckerburg on fire, I would spare my urine to try and put out the fire. May he burn in hell.
loulou| 12.21.12 @ 10:20AM
Wow. Might you have some anger issues?
Tom Kyba| 12.21.12 @ 11:36AM
More like described him to a "T" issues.
Seek| 12.21.12 @ 12:07PM
Gee, Murl. I have to wonder: Do you have a nonfunctioning Facebook account? Or are you simply a tad envious of Zuckerberg's wealth?
Stan Redmond| 12.21.12 @ 2:41PM
Whoa. What did he ever do to you?
Bob K| 12.22.12 @ 10:14PM
Stay away from anything that has water in it!
loulou| 12.21.12 @ 10:19AM
Place an onerous tax on all foundations.
Problem solved.
PCC| 12.21.12 @ 11:12AM
Why not eliminate the charitable tax deduction? Then, when you give, you mean it.
Doctor Right| 12.21.12 @ 12:21PM
Zuckerberg makes me laugh.
This guy had one (1) good idea his entire life - to STEAL someone else's really good idea - and he has made billions.
And people still look to him as some kind of uber-genius, despite the crash-and-burn of Facebooks IPO, and despite the fact that he shows up for press conferences on Wall Street wearing a freaking hoodie.
This guy is a clown. He's not in the same league with Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, or Larry Ellison. Those guys are (or were, in Job's case) amazing innovators and fantastic businessmen.
Zuckerberg is neither. He just happened to be in the right place at the right time...to steal someone's idea.
Occam's Tool| 12.21.12 @ 1:02PM
I like to tip my waitresses at least 20%, usually closer to 30%. I also treat them well. I get amazingly good service.
SUBVET| 12.23.12 @ 10:18AM
Vaginabook...........another distraction
cicero| 12.21.12 @ 1:49PM
The tax return that contains the deduction would be interesting. Maybe if we knew how much he paid the government after this charitable entry, we would be more, or less, impressed. These are the guys that fell all over Obama during his campaign, when he was calling for higher taxes on the rich. If this deductions, while it leaves him in total control of the money, at the same time absolves him from any taxation, we will know whether he be a Samaritan or a Charlatan.
THKrupp| 12.21.12 @ 2:02PM
Its his money who cares what he does with it.
Stan Redmond| 12.21.12 @ 2:39PM
This is a smart decision by Zuckerberg. Basically he is paying protection money to the government to keep them off his case. Facebook, his bank account, and himself all have big bullseyes on them. Any politician or agency that wants to shake him down will think twice.
cicero| 12.21.12 @ 3:07PM
TH - I don;t care what he does with his money. What I do resent is having to pay my share of the tax burden, while he is supporting the campaign for "tax fairness", while possibly paying none himself.
Claudia Monteverdi| 12.24.12 @ 2:30AM
Dear Jay,
I am of course horrified by the machinations you so cooly relate, evidently performed with benefit of the law. If these stunts are endemic, you allude to the Clinton House of Cards and mention Gates (cum Buffet) in passing, many nasty little problems emante. Your focus appears to be rhe defacto transfer of funds from the private sector to the public; but would not the simple payment of the taxes thus evaded accomplish the same thing? You will not I quite intentionally used the word "evaded". Unless I misunderstand the situation, this is my easy conclusion. If such is the case should not our public officials, starting with His Majesty, immediately curtail such scullduggery and rightfully appropriate these funds in order to deal with the dreaded deficit and the OMG fffffffiscall cliff? i would be so pleased to see you as commisioner or better still, gauleiter of such an affair.
I was quite moved by your penultimate paragraph, I found it to be both noble and morally serenely confident........"You give these schools a hundred million dollars and they will turn out jewels, the builders of a beautiful future for our society. Then again they will do that anyway; without the preening and misguided donors, without the chirping and manipulative middlemen......" Bravo Jay!
Yours,
Claudia
gladysb| 12.27.12 @ 9:43AM
"My children go to the same kinds of Jewish schools I attended, with incredibly talented and devoted staff, at best underpaid, often several months in arrears on payroll. You give these schools a hundred million dollars and they will turn out jewels, the builders of a beautiful future for our society."
Just kills you, doesn't it? Really chaps your tuchas. All that Zuckerberg money not being spent on Jewish "jewels"?
Just think about it! For five hundred million dollars every needy Jewish child could be pulled from the dreck and shmutz of the goy schools and be turned into wonderful Jewish jewels like you to lead all of America, to "heal the world" as Rav Lerner puts it in Tikkun.
So, nu, why do you think Zuckerberg feels compelled to suck up to the goyim? Is he buying peace from the gentiles? "Putting them on the payroll", so to speak, where he can keep an eye on them and maintain some control over them by "exercising the power of the purse"?