Craigslist Founder Craig Newmark Signs the Giving Pledge: Interview
Craig Newmark, the founder of Craigslist, is celebrating his 73rd birthday by giving his fortune away. The entrepreneur is the latest signee of the Giving Pledge, a campaign urging the ultra-wealthy to donate the majority of their net worth to charity. Ringing in his birthday earlier this month caused Newmark and his wife Eileen to decide “it was time to firmly announce my intentions,” he told Observer over email. “Also, I figured that might inspire other folks to pony up some dough.”
Newmark is best known for launching Craigslist, which started out as a mailing list in the 1990s before growing into the popular classifieds website beloved for its utilitarian layout. Since stepping away from Craigslist in 2018, Newmark has largely shifted his focus to philanthropy, steadily giving away his wealth to causes including veteran support, cybersecurity, journalism and even pigeon rescue.
By signing the Giving Pledge, which was established in 2010 by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and Melinda French Gates, Newmark joins more than 250 wealthy philanthropists, including Mark Zuckerberg and Sam Altman.
In a LinkedIn post, Newmark pointed out that the pledge is often dubbed the “Billionaire’s Pledge.” He insisted he’s never been a billionaire himself, “particularly after I gave away all my Craigslist equity to my charitable foundation.”
Newmark said his pledge was inspired by the teachings of his Sunday School teachers, Mr. and Mrs. Levin, and by the lyrics of Leonard Cohen. He also framed it as a continuation of his 1999 decision to monetize Craigslist “as little as possible.” His limited monetization strategy, which involves charges for only a small set of posts, meant turning down an estimated $11 billion from bankers and venture capitalists looking to capitalize on the site.
Even so, Craigslist’s success still made Newmark a wealthy man. He has since funneled much of that money into philanthropic causes aimed at protecting America, donating or pledging hundreds of millions of dollars to organizations working in areas like cybersecurity defense and veteran support.
He’s also a major backer of trustworthy journalism, supporting independent newsrooms and journalism schools such as the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at the City University of New York. The school was renamed in 2018 after receiving a $20 million donation from Newmark, who promised another $10 million last year.
And then there are the birds. A longtime avian enthusiast, Newmark is particularly fond of pigeons and earlier this year gave Palomacy, a pigeon rescue in Northern California, its largest-ever donation: a $30,000 gift. Newmark and his wife Eileen even nicknamed their favorite neighborhood pigeon “Ghost Faced Killer” and frequently chronicled his adventures on social media. The bird, which has since passed away, “now looks down at us from Pigeon Heaven,” Newmark told Observer.
Looking ahead, Newmark is especially eager to expand his work combating online scams. Alongside launching the PauseTake9 campaign, which urges people to take a nine-second pause before downloading or sharing information, he supports the Global Anti Scam Alliance and the Global Signal Exchange. Earlier this month, the latter received a $1 million pledge from him.
“I’ve been quietly fighting scams for over 25 years,” said Newmark. “Time to get serious.”