With Facebook Stock Surge, $500-Million Gift Grows to $738-Million

A nearly 52-percent increase in Facebook’s stock price since December has turned Mark Zuckerberg’s donation of 18 million shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation from a $500-million gift to one worth $738-million.

When Mr. Zuckerberg made the gift in December, Facebook stock was trading at around $27. It ended August trading at $41.

The Facebook founder said last year that he and his wife, Priscilla Chan, intend to work with the foundation to use the money for issues related to education and health. But no specifics have emerged since the gift was made, and the nation’s second largest community foundation remains mum on the subject.

“We have no plans at this time to release any details about the use or uses of the donation we received last year from Mark Zuckerberg,” Sue McAllister, a foundation spokeswoman, wrote in an e-mail.

The gift was responsible for a 108.5-percent increase in revenue for the Silicon Valley Community Foundation—from $537-million in 2011 to $1.12-billion in 2012.

Many in the Silicon Valley area are holding their breath to see how the foundation and the Facebook founder decide to manage the gift.

“I haven’t heard a thing,” said Patricia Gardner, executive director of the Silicon Valley Council of Nonprofits. “There was a lot of buzz, but there’s been no movement on it, and when anyone asks, there’s no answer.”