Billionaires are often criticized for not giving enough money to charitable causes. However, some of them are now facing scrutiny despite seemingly donating a good portion of their wealth.
One such case is that of Sheryl Sandberg, Facebook’s current COO. With a $1.6 billion fortune, the 50-year-old executive reportedly gave away 8% of her net worth in just the span of a year.
While this may look good on paper, a recent report by Forbes offers a more critical take on her philanthropic efforts.
Tracing Donations
Sandberg has been quite public about her support for the organizations LeanIn and OptionB. However, a look into the public documents related to her charitable donations shows that most of her money went to donor-advised funds (DAFs), which is reportedly a controversial way to make donations.
DAFs grant immediate tax deductions to the giver. Sandberg has given away $230 million worth of donated Facebook shares since 2015.
LeanIn is a nonprofit organization founded by Sandberg herself in 2013. It focuses on supporting the empowerment of women through education and community-building.
Meanwhile, OptionB is another organization created by Sandberg stemming from her personal experience of losing her husband Dave Goldberg. It primarily seeks to help people react resiliently to adversities they may face in life.
Suspicious Expenditure
In total, LeanIn and OptionB received $12 million from Sandberg’s family foundation from the years 2013 to 2017. As was proven by tax filings, OptionB got $3.5 million while LeanIn was granted $3.3 million in 2017.
The same documents showed that Sandberg’s family foundation also paid $1.2 million on communications with another $300,000 being spent to hire former Barack Obama speechwriter Megan Rooney.
Commenting on these facts, nonprofit consultant Alan Cantor pointed out how the Facebook COO spent a large portion of the donations on public relations. This move, in turn, might have been done to positively position Sandberg.
That said, the bulk of the hundreds of millions of dollars she donated remains unaccounted for.
Unfulfilled Intentions
Fortunately, the public may soon find out exactly where Sandberg’s donations have been going as she shared the coming of the Sandberg Goldberg Charitable Support Fund.
Because this new foundation is a grant-making one, it would be required to divulge financial information to the government as well as earmark 5% of its assets to charities each year.
However, Sandberg’s new foundation hasn’t seemed to have materialized just yet.
