SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA, Nov. 16, 2021 (Gephardt Daily) — Jeff T. Green, an advertising billionaire who attended Brigham Young University, has pledged to donate 90 percent of his wealth through his charity.
Green, who continued his education at University of Southern California, went on to co-found software company The Trade Desk and AdECN, a service that provides pay per click advertising on the Bing, Yahoo!, and DuckDuckGo search engines.
This week, Green this week made the promise through The Giving Pledge, a challenge created by Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett to encourage extreme philanthropy among the ultra-wealthy.
Green send a letter published by The Giving Pledge, which appears, in part, below:
“Dear Melinda, Bill and Warren,
“I’m honored to join the giving pledge that you created. I believe that if I and the 224 pledgers before me live up to our pledges, this movement may be the most important philanthropic endeavor to this point in world history. I’m inspired. I want to do my part to keep this effort moving.
“I didn’t have an ideal home life as a kid, but my upbringing has shaped who I am today. It has made me intently curious about people. What motivates them? What series of events, fortunate or otherwise, has led them to where they are today?
“When I was 17, I met a homeless man named James in Five Points, Denver, Colorado. I spent hours listening to him, his stories, and the twists and turns of choice and fate that led him to a life on the streets. His journey deeply affected me, and I found myself dwelling on it a great deal over the following months, unable to shake one core question that was taking root in my mind — ‘Why is he out there on the streets in the December cold while I am living a more comfortable life?’
“I think this adage is generally true: luck is preparation meeting opportunity. But I also understand that many people experience major life events that obstruct their preparation and as a result, opportunity passes them by. I also believe that we all encounter people who can propel us forward or hold us back. No one gets to their station in life alone, good or bad. I didn’t get to this statistically outlying position alone, and neither did James.
“As I get older, I also often find myself thinking about my grandparents. My grandfather was a mechanic and an honest, big-hearted man. He worked for the same company for most of his life, laboring day and night to create opportunity for his family. He had a saying, ‘some people have some problems. And other people, well, they have other problems.’ Everybody has a story. Everyone has problems. We’ve all experienced pain, heartbreak, and betrayal. I have. And for the people I meet in life, I care deeply about how those stories and events have influenced them and their journey.
“There are many who believe that money solves these problems. I don’t think it’s quite that simple. Like many people, I grew up worrying about money. At a young age I remember waiting in line with my mother for government food distributions. Until well into adulthood, I constantly worried about having enough money to make ends meet. But it was never really about the money itself. It was always about what money can do.
“Money cannot buy happiness. Money can buy things that may make life more enjoyable. But those things and that enjoyment are always fleeting. When you think about the problems you face in life, the accumulation of things is rarely the solution.
“But if we combine money with people and time, we can progress solutions to some of the common problems that people face. I truly believe that when joined with smart, rational, passionate, motivated, focused, incentivized people — money can empower us to change almost anything.”
Read Green’s full letter here.
The letter goes on to explain Green’s interest in education, and his support of non-profits including the Ruth Cheatham Foundation, which helps teen cancer survivors pursue education.
“Government money (long before mine) has been thrown at the very problems and suffering that I intend to address through data-driven philanthropy. Being deliberate, focused, smart, passionate, and collaborative is the only way to make an outsized impact and create leverage with the wealth I plan to donate.”
Green’s formal pledge follows:
I will give away the vast majority of my wealth through data-driven philanthropy before or at my death. My target is more than 90 percent of my wealth. But I will also give of my time, my most precious commodity, to allocate those funds deliberately, and to be personally engaged.
I expect to spend at least the next 10 years doing good for profit at my company, The Trade Desk (TTD). But at some point, I expect to point all my drive and ambition at venture philanthropy. I deeply desire for my children and family to join me in giving back.
My family foundation and its giving arm — Dataphilanthropy — is dedicated to the mission that passionate, yet data-driven, rational philanthropy is the most effective way to deploy capital against humanity’s toughest problems. We will invest in projects where we can apply data to understand progress, mistakes and opportunities. We will invest in communities, business and people with both time and money, and where that essential combination of resources can help us achieve progress at scale.
Through the success of The Trade Desk, we are very fortunate to have helped create thousands of millionaires, and I hope to create many many more. As part of this pledge, I call on them to find their own way to give back. It’s not their obligation. However, to have surplus in the hands of a talented, compassionate person presents a huge opportunity to give back and make the world a better place for others. No one got here alone.
Many of those TTD employees, investors, partners, and my children are part of the Gen Z and Alpha generations — and they arguably care more about social change than any generation that preceded them. They want to be part of the solution—something much bigger than themselves. This gives me tremendous hope for how much progress we will make under their watch. And I could not be happier to play my part.
With deep gratitude and optimism for our future,
Jeff
