With a $1.8B startup sale, he became wealthy, but now he wants to give back half his net worth: "The American Dream isn't just about accumulating wealth."

Jeff Atwood plans to donate most of his fortune to philanthropic causes within the next five years.

In a blog post last week, Atwood, the co-founder of Stack Overflow, which was acquired by Prosus for $1.8 billion in 2021, announced plans to give away more than half his wealth within the next five years.

Despite the uncertainty about how much of the Stack Overflow sale was directly deposited into his bank account, Atwood's family has already made eight $1 million donations to nonprofits including Team Rubicon, The Trevor Project, and First Generation Investors, he wrote.

Atwood expressed concern that the American Dream may be lost due to wealth concentration, voter registration challenges, and rising costs of housing, healthcare, and education, which pose barriers to success for many Americans.

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In 1992, Atwood barely managed to pay $3,000 per year for college through a combination of grants, scholarships, and part-time work, which was a bargain compared to today's tuition standards.

"Gaining the dream allowed me to fully realize how many Americans lack wealth," Atwood wrote. "As my family's wealth grew, it unintentionally separated us from others. I no longer cared about the cost of items because I didn't have to. The more wealth I accumulated, the more evident it became how unequal life was for many of us."

'I want everyone to have a fair shot'

The Giving Pledge campaign, initiated by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett, has inspired Atwood to pledge most of her fortune to charitable causes. The campaign, which encourages wealthy individuals to donate their fortunes, has gained traction among tech billionaires such as Sam Altman, Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk, as per the campaign's website.

Buffett plans to distribute 99.5% of his wealth philanthropically, while Stack Overflow's co-founder has a different timeline for his pledge. Buffett, with a net worth of $146.2 billion, is the CEO of Berkshire Hathaway, according to Forbes.

Atwood's urgency is driven by a U.S. government that is becoming increasingly polarized, making it slower to deliver change. Buffett's pledge to donate 99% of his wealth to charity is admirable, but Atwood wonders when this wealth will be transferred.

His own financial success should be replicable for other Americans, he added.

"Atwood stated to the Associated Press on Friday that the American Dream is not only about becoming wealthy but also about everyone achieving success. She added, "Some level of unfairness is acceptable. However, I believe everyone should have an equal opportunity.""

The challenge of large-scale philanthropy

Some of the world's wealthiest individuals have discussed the challenges of giving money effectively, including finding trustworthy organizations and consistently supporting causes they care about.

"According to Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon, donating large sums impactfully is challenging, just as building Amazon was difficult and required a lot of hard work and smart teammates. He shared this insight with CNN in 2022."

MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Bezos, has dedicated herself to maximizing the impact of large financial donations through her philanthropic initiative Yield Giving. The initiative has a "quiet research" process in which it finds and examines groups helping people in underserved communities, mostly anonymously to avoid distracting the nonprofits from their work, and gives them an "immediate gift for use however they choose," according to its website.

"According to Benjamin Soskis, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute's Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, MacKenzie Scott is currently the most outstanding philanthropist in the country. He stated that she has created a highly effective model that has garnered more recognition than any major mega-donor."

Since 2019, when the couple divorced, Scott has given away more than $19.25 billion, according to Yield Giving's website. Her current net worth is $31.9 billion, according to Forbes.

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