Charles Platiau/Reuters
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
- Facebook has launched a fund for people to donate money to fight the coronavirus pandemic currently sweeping across the world, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced Friday.
- The company also committed a total of $20 million to fight the outbreak, dedicating $10 million toward matching donations to the fund and $10 million to match donations to an upcoming fundraiser held by the CDC Foundation.
- Earlier in the day, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced that she and a group of high-profile tech entrepreneurs were making a joint donation of $5.5 million to a local food bank, to ensure that food security in the San Francisco Bay Area remained steady during the coronavirus outbreak.
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Facebook has committed $20 million to match donations to fight the coronavirus pandemic sweeping across the world, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced in a post on Friday.
The commitment is split between the CDC Foundation, and a fund started in conjunction with the UN Foundation and the World Health Organization, Zuckerberg said.
"We've worked with the United Nations Foundation and the World Health Organization to start a COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund, where anyone can go to make a donation," Zuckerberg said. "Facebook is matching up to $10 million in donations, and 100% of funds will directly support the work to prevent, detect and respond to the outbreak around the world."
"We'll also match $10 million for the CDC Foundation, which will launch a fundraiser in the next few weeks focused on combating the outbreak here in the US," Zuckerberg added. "Thanks to everyone who is working to minimize the impact of the pandemic. More to come soon."
Other tech giants have also started taking steps to fight the pandemic. Google CEO Sundar Pichai announced last week that his company was providing $25 million in donated ad credit to both the WHO and government agencies. The post also said that the company and its employees have separately donated over $1 million to support relief efforts. Both Amazon and Microsoft have also individually donated $1 million to a fund to support the Seattle area, which has been hurt by the coronavirus outbreak.
Individual efforts by tech executives to support communities hit by the outbreak have also picked up. Earlier on Friday, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg announced that she would be kicking off an emergency fund to help a Silicon Valley-based food bank ensure that families were still getting food during the coronavirus pandemic.
Along with a group that included Facebook CTO Mike Schroepfer, LinkedIn CEO Reid Hoffman and venture capitalist Bill Gurley, Sanders said she would be kicking off the fund with a joint donation of $5.5 million, and matching donations to it.