Newark Halfway to Matching $100M Facebook Donation

Two years after Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced a $100 million donation to support Newark's struggling schools, the city is at the halfway mark of matching that cash.

About $50 million has been raised so far by Foundation for Newark's Future, the nonprofit organization tasked with managing the money. Of that total, a bulk of which has come from hedge fund manager Bill Ackman, who reportedly gave $25 million through his philanthropic Pershing Square Foundation, and venture capitalist John Doerr, who donated $10 million, about $16 million has been invested. (See list below.) The foundation must match the $100 million donation through outside donors in order to access the money.

"We're using our revenue to be much more thoughtful about identifying models and practices that move the work forward," said Foundation for Newark's Future Chief Executive Officer Greg Taylor in an interview with Early Ed Watch earlier this month. "We want to help the district work out the kinks of how you grow quality in formal and informal providers. That’s how we’re trying to use the revenue."

In February, $212,000 in grant money for classroom initiatives.

Zuckerberg and Newark Mayor Cory Booker appeared on Oprah in 2010 to announce the donation, which was at the center of a claiming violation of public records laws.

Speaking Monday at AOL-owned TechCrunch's Disrupt conference in San Francisco, Booker called the Facebook founder an "American hero" for connecting the world through social media.

"He’s constantly thinking about systems and bringing systems to scale," Booker said of Zuckerberg. "America cannot be the leading democracy if we have a lagging school system."

at 2 p.m. PST (5 p.m. EST) in his first interview since the company went public. The interview will stream live on TechCrunch.

A prolific Tweeter who's garnered nearly 1.2 million followers, joined the three-day West Coast tech conference to discuss #waywire, the user-friendly news site he co-founded. The to millenials primarily through video content.

"Me and my team said, 'Let's elevate people, let's give them an ability to find what matters to them, to discover it, to share it,'" said Booker, "but more importantly, to amplify their voices, to let them share what's going on in their life, what they're passionate about, in the social sphere as well."

Booker is said to be leading the quest for donations to Foundation for Newark's Future.

As of August 2012, Foundation for Newark's Future has committed the following grants to six key focus areas: Community engagement, Newark Public Schools' operational excellence, early childhood education, at-risk youth, school options and teacher and principal quality.

• School options: $3,580,000
• Teacher quality and principal leaders: $1,907,000
• Community engagement: $3,169,866
• Early childhood education: $496,000
• At-risk youth: $180,000
• Newark Public Schools' operational excellence: $7,395,582