Marie & Benoit Dageville – Giving Pledge Letter

Sign the Giving Pledge? You must be joking! Benoit and I came into wealth unexpectedly following Snowflake’s IPO in September 2020, when we suddenly found ourselves overwhelmed by our new reality.
We were reminded daily of the opportunity, privilege, and freedom that comes with great wealth. Overnight, we were suddenly granted the ability to dream of a new future, one where we, our children, and their children would live in security and without financial hardship. But for Benoit and I, the most salient thing wealth brought with it was a feeling of responsibility to give back. We kept thinking of the Spiderman quote from Peter Parker’s uncle: “With great power comes great responsibility”.
We feel a responsibility to give—and to give with urgency. We know we cannot wait on climate change, cannot sleep on injustice, and cannot close our eyes to global health emergencies. And we do not intend to. If we believe in justice and equity, it is our duty to redistribute our wealth, and we want to encourage others to join us.
We know that philanthropy won’t change the world, but it can help support the individuals who will. Every day, through our work with our grantee partners, we’re inspired by the incredible people who fight for their communities. Our philanthropy is shaped by our values as well as the conversations we have with community leaders, and other experienced philanthropists.
Last year, Benoit and I created The Patchwork Collective—our philanthropic effort to support locally-led solutions to global challenges. Through this effort we fund community-driven organizations and leaders across three pillars: social equity, global health, and climate justice. We are very grateful to the team at ICONIQ Impact for helping us build Patchwork and live out our values through our giving.
At the beginning of our philanthropic journey we wanted to keep our work quiet. But now, we’re honored to sign the Giving Pledge and hope to inspire others to join the fight for a world where all can have the same chance to build a good life.