Nearly two weeks after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg donated $25 million to help fight Ebola, Microsoft founder and fellow billionaire Paul Allen has now upped the ante by donating $100 million to the cause. Fight, fight, fight!
Earlier this month, Zuckerberg announced via a Facebook post that he would be donating $25 million to the Centers for Disease Control to help turn the tide against the Ebola epidemic, which he described as being “at a critical turning point.”
Post by Mark Zuckerberg.
Allen, meanwhile, will be contributing one of the largest amounts donated thus far by an individual to combatting the Ebola epidemic. After making his pledge public on Twitter, he went on to tell the New York Times that he was donating the $100 million because “Everybody feels called sometimes to really pursue a certain thing that resonates with them, and this has resonated with me.” His donation will be split between the University of Massachusetts Medical School, the U.S. State Department and the World Health Organization. In addition to his monetary pledge, Allen has also created www.TackleEbola.com, a website highlighting Ebola projects that need funding.
“We’re up against an extremely tough opponent here. The exponential nature of the growth of this disease is really a challenge — we’ve already seen in the U.S. where one case quickly became two,” Allen told the NYT.
Attention Mark Cuban, Carlos Slim and other members of the billionaires’ club: it’s your move … or maybe you guys could just donate your millions to fighting more threatening foes, like Iggy Azalea for instance?
