Education

Craigslist Founder Gives $1 Million To Public School Teachers In Science And Math

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Craigslist founder Craig Newmark announced a $1 million grant for public school teachers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields Monday.

Facilitated by DonorsChoose.org, the grant will allow teachers working at schools where over half of the students come from low-income households to apply for funding going toward math and science projects in the classroom.

Craigslist was founded in 1995 and is an advertisement website that provides a marketplace for items, housing, jobs and services.

“I didn’t think I would start a very successful company. It has worked out much better than I thought, and now I can put my money where my mouth is,” Newmark said, Forbes reported Monday.

“Everything now seems very surreal,” Newmark added, remarking on his ability to give money to worthy causes.

Newmark has also given over $40 million to journalism initiatives since 2015 through Craig Newmark Philanthropies and has made donations to support voter registration and military families, Forbes reported. He donated $50 million to his own foundation, the Craig Newmark Foundation, in 2016.

“Journalism is a mission-critical resource for this country,” Newmark said, explaining his donations to journalism ventures. “I’ve learned that a trustworthy press is the immune system of a democracy.”

Newmark gave $20 million to the City University of New York (CUNY) Graduate School of Journalism in June. The school has since been renamed the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism. He also gave $1 million to nonprofit newsroom ProPublica and the Poynter Institute, a “school for journalism and democracy,” according to its Twitter handle.

Craigslist is worth roughly $4 billion, according to Forbes.

“I neither confirm nor deny anything to do with my net worth,” Newmark told Forbes in an effort to keep the company’s finances private.

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