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Mark Pincus - The Giving Pledge

givingpledge.org · 714 words · saved by 1 readers

“When a community comes together to solve its own problems it reclaims its agency and becomes emboldened. This community focus is core to my giving philosophy, which is shaped by a desire to facilitate entrepreneurial ingenuity so that people can take sustainable and regenerative action in their communities.” I spent my 20s in a series of jobs that never stuck. By the time I was 28, I felt lost. I went to temple for the High Holidays for the first time since I was a kid. Because I couldn't follow the Hebrew, I started writing in a notebook. I wrote about my failed dreams and how I felt like a passive follower on my life journey—not a passionate protagonist. Articulating all the ways that my life was lacking somehow fostered in me a sense of agency and motivation. I narrowed it down to one thing I hated most about myself: I smoked cigarettes. So, on October 19, 1994, I did a “lifetime quit” on smoking. Every day I didn't smoke would be a day I lived my life, rather than it living me. Th

When a community comes together to solve its own problems it reclaims its agency and becomes emboldened. This community focus is core to my giving philosophy, which is shaped by a desire to facilitate entrepreneurial ingenuity so that people can take sustainable and regenerative action in their communities." Pledge letter I spent my 20s in a series of jobs that never stuck. By the time I was 28, I felt lost. I went to temple for the High Holidays for the first time since I was a kid. Because I couldn’t follow the Hebrew, I started writing in a notebook. I wrote about my failed dreams and

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