Tech founder pledges to give away half his fortune to ‘share’ American dream, tackle inequality

Unfair.

Amazing.

un-american.

That’s how tech entrepreneur Jeff Atwood sees the staggering wealth inequality in the US today.

In response, he and his family have pledged to give away half of their fortune within five years, starting with gifts of $1 million to eight nonprofits this month.

His warning about the dangers of rising inequality was echoed by outgoing President Joe Biden in his final prime-time address on Wednesday.

“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America with extreme wealth, power, and influence that threatens literally all of our democracy, our basic rights and freedoms, and a fair chance for everyone to get ahead,” Biden said.

Atwood, who co-founded Stack Overflow, a popular forum for software developers, made the pledge on Jan. 7 in a blog post.

“The American dream is not just about getting rich. It’s for everyone to succeed,” Atwood said in an interview with The Associated Press from his home in the Bay Area.

Atwood said inequality diminishes hope in the American Dream, which he sees as the opportunity to be “well rewarded for a combination of hard work and good luck.”

Atwood’s initial gifts support a variety of nonprofits, from PEN America, which defends free speech, to reproductive health organization Planned Parenthood to Team Rubicon, a disaster relief organization.

“What’s unique about his donation is that it’s basically built on trust,” said Art delaCruz, CEO of Team Rubicon, saying the gift had gone out of the blue.

The commitment to give away half of his family’s wealth is unusual even for the richest people.

And beyond giving away his money, Atwood sincerely hopes to move others to action.

“I want people to still believe that this is possible,” he said of the American Dream.

“Like the land of opportunities, because I lived it. And it was such that it was an amazing dream and I’m honored to have done it. But I have to share it.”

Stack Overflow’s $1.6 billion sale in 2021 made Atwood, its co-founder and early employees wildly wealthy compared to the vast majority of Americans, but it didn’t put him in the inner ring of Silicon Valley titans.

In other words, he is not a billionaire.

Atwood didn’t want to reveal exactly how much she planned to donate, though it’s safe to say there are tens of millions more lined up to donate.

But what he really wants is to inspire more people to believe that it is possible to create a more affordable and livable economy.

“I want everyone to feel like they can do something, because there’s a lot of desperation out there — like, ‘We’re so drunk. We can’t do anything,” he said.

Deborah Small, a professor at the Yale School of Management, said there’s a danger that you’ll look like you’re flaunting your reputation and virtue signaling by talking about your giving.

But it can also help increase your influence by influencing others to give.

“If we want to increase philanthropy in the world, our evidence suggests that the more public we are, the better we can achieve for philanthropy,” she said.

Writing in his long-running blog, “Coding Horror,” Atwood also pointed to the plurality of Americans who don’t vote as a sign of Americans’ deteriorating faith in the future.

He said the recent election had raised the stakes, but was quick to stress in an interview that he is not committed to any political party.

“I like good leaders. I don’t care what your ideology is. What I care about is, are you creating people who can help us build a better world? And these are the organizations that I support,” he said.

By pledging to give away half of his fortune, Atwood is following in the footsteps of an even wealthier group of people.

In 2010, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates launched the Giving Pledge, which invites billionaires – exclusively – to commit to giving away more than half of their wealth during their lifetime or upon death. So far 244 have joined.

Atwood said she was inspired by the pledge, but is adding a five-year time element to move the money.

Another pledge launched by leaders of the effective altruism movement invites anyone to pledge to give 10% of their income each year to charities they define as effective.

Since 2009, the group sponsoring the pledge, Giving What We Can, reports that more than 9,500 people have signed.

Atwood spoke earnestly of his commitment to the founding ideals of the United States set forth by Thomas Jefferson.

He attended the University of Virginia, which Jefferson founded, and wrote about collecting his education through part-time jobs. In his blog post announcing the donations, Atwood also referenced the 1967 novel “The Outsiders,” by SE Hinton, and specifically, a recitation of Robert Frost’s poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.”

Atwood said he saw it as “a meditation on maintaining our youthful ideals despite the fleeting nature of life”.

He said he decided to give away half of his fortune because it seemed fair.

“When you get to this level of wealth, you really see how hard it is for everyone else and it’s unfair,” Atwood said.

“And some unfairness is okay. I’m not saying we’re socialists here. I don’t say that anyway, but I want everyone to have a fair shot. I think that’s right. That’s how it should be. Everyone should have a chance.”