July 1, 2018

 

I originally became a signatory to the Giving Pledge along with my mother and father back in 2012. Although we are the only “pledgers” who joined as a family, I made the decision to provide a separate commitment to Melinda, Bill and Warren’s vision to better reflect my distinct reason for supporting this important mission.

My wealth was neither completely self-made nor inherited; I worked closely over the past 35 years with my father to build our real estate development company and no amount of business acumen could have offset the luck of place and time as our region transformed from the orchards of the Santa Clara Valley into Silicon Valley. While we succeeded where others failed, there is no doubt that good fortune played the most important role in our success. Recognizing the importance of luck in my own life has compelled me to sign the pledge out of compassion for those who are not so fortunate.

While I believe the economic system of the U.S. remains the most just in the world, there is an increasingly polarized distribution of wealth. There are many people who have worked much harder, made much greater sacrifices, and created more benefit from their work to society than I. The most important power of wealth comes from the use of that wealth to address the world’s most pressing issues. I believe that is the real potential behind the Giving Pledge.

My wife, Timi, has been very influential in shaping what has become our joint philanthropic focus. While we strongly support and serve on the Board of our family’s foundation focused on place-based grantmaking and K-12 education, Timi and I also have our own philanthropic priorities and resources. Using an assessment framework based on scale, tractability and projected impact, we have identified an initial focus on global food system reform and reducing our dependence on animal agriculture to improve our health, the environment, global food security and animal welfare.

Due to the magnitude of our family’s wealth, we tend to get a disproportionate share of the praise for our charitable work when the fact is this represents little sacrifice compared to those who must forego important personal pleasures to contribute to society. As important as the Giving Pledge is to encourage those with the most means to make transformative change, it is only appropriate to conclude with recognition of those who give with much greater sacrifice and generosity.