Tech founder pledges to give away half his wealth to make the American dream more possible

Unfair. Astonishing. Un-American.

That is how tech entrepreneur Jeff Atwood sees the staggering wealth inequality in the U.S. today. In response, he and his family have pledged to give away half their wealth within five years, starting with $1 million gifts to eight nonprofits this month.

His warning about the dangers of growing inequity was echoed by outgoing President Joe Biden in his final primetime speech Wednesday.

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

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

“The American dream isn’t about just getting rich. It’s about everyone succeeding,” said Atwood, in an interview with The Associated Press from his home in the Bay Area.

Atwood said the inequity reduces hope in the American dream, which he sees as the possibility of being “rewarded handsomely for a combination of hard work and good luck.”

Atwood's initial gifts support a range of nonprofits, from PEN America, which advocates for free speech, to reproductive health organization Planned Parenthood to Team Rubicon, a disaster response organization.

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

The commitment to give away half of his family's wealth is unusual even among the richest people. And beyond giving his own money away, 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 opportunity, because I lived it. And it was such it was an amazing dream and I’m honored to have done it. But I gotta share it.”

The sale of Stack Overflow for $1.6 billion in 2021 made Atwood, his co-founder and early employees wildly wealthy compared to the vast majority of Americans, but it did not launch him into the inner ring of Silicon Valley’s titans. In other words, he’s no billionaire.

Atwood didn’t want to disclose exactly how much he planned to give away, though it’s safe to say he has tens of millions more lined up to donate. But what he really wants is to inspire more people to believe that it's 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 hopelessness out there — like, ‘We’re just so screwed. There’s nothing we can do’,” he said.

Deborah Small, a professor at Yale School of Management, said there is a risk of looking like you’re burnishing your reputation and virtue signaling by talking about your giving. But it can also help increase your impact 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 outcomes we can achieve for philanthropy,” she said.

Writing on his long-running blog, “Coding Horror,” Atwood also pointed to the plurality of Americans who don’t vote as a sign of the deterioration of American's faith in the future. He said the recent election had raised the stakes but was quick to emphasize in an interview that he's not committed to any political party.

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

In pledging to give away half of his wealth, Atwood is following in the footsteps of a group of even wealthier people. In 2010, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates started the Giving Pledge, which invites billionaires — exclusively — to commit to giving away more than half of their wealth in their lifetimes or at the time of their death. So far, 244 have joined.

Atwood said he was inspired by the pledge but is adding a time element of five years to move the money.

Another pledge started by leaders in the effective altruism movement invites anyone to promise to give away 10% of their income each year to charities they define as effective. Since 2009, the group that sponsors the pledge, Giving What We Can, reports more than 9,500 people have signed on.

Atwood spoke earnestly about his dedication to the United State’s founding ideals as set out by Thomas Jefferson. He attended the University of Virginia, which Jefferson founded, and wrote about scraping together his tuition through part-time jobs. In his blog post announcing the donations, Atwood also referenced the 1967 novel “The Outsiders,” by S.E. Hinton, and particularly, a recitation of the Robert Frost poem, “Nothing Gold Can Stay.” It's a meditation on how fleeting life can be.

He said he decided on giving away half his wealth because that seemed fair.

“When you get to this level of wealth, you really see how difficult 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’m not in anyway saying that, but I want everyone to have a fair shot. I think that’s right. That’s the way it should be. Everyone should have a chance.”

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