In an opinion piece in the New York Times this week, Craig Newmark of Craigslist fame wrote about his decision to sign the “Giving Pledge” last year with the goal of giving up to $1 billion to nonprofits, and he’s been encouraging other wealthy people to do the same.

As San Francisco’s beloved online marketplace, Craigslist, turns 31 this year, founder and philanthropist Craig Newmark said in an interview with NBC Bay Area that he's made it his mission to “inspire other people with too much money” to donate some of their fortunes to good causes. Newmark wrote in an Op-Ed for the New York Times Monday that he’s donated $450 million of his wealth so far, and last year, he signed the “Giving Pledge” to donate up to $1 billion.

“When I started Craigslist in the mid-1990s I never thought I’d become rich. But I did,” writes Newmark. “A lot of people in tech around that time also got lucky. Millions — even billions — were made simply by being in the right place at the right time.”

“That’s too much money for anyone to have, so I’m giving most of it away to people and causes that need it,” he continues.

Newmark explains in the Times that the Giving Pledge, which was founded by Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, and Melinda French Gates, is geared toward very wealthy people who agree to give most of their fortunes away to charitable causes before their deaths or through their wills.

“After donating more than $450 million over the past decade or so I was well on my way to doing it on my own,” he writes. “But I thought being more public about giving might help convince someone else with a lot of money to give it away, too.”

Newmark writes that he’s been spreading the word about the pledge, but he says some billionaires have vocally criticized it, calling it foolish to give away one’s fortune, especially to “leftwing” nonprofits. He explains that the pledge allows donors to choose whichever charitable causes they want.

“It makes no sense to me that others with this kind of money would criticize anyone doing this,” he writes, via the Times.

“I use the money I made to help people who are trying to make life better for all of us humans,” he explains. “It seems to me that the 250 or so people who signed the pledge are trying to do some version of the same thing. How is that not a good thing?”

Newmark's donations reportedly support causes like independent journalism, active military personnel and veterans, cybersecurity, and pigeon rescue groups.

Newmark, who started Craigslist as an email list for San Francisco events in the 1990s, describes himself in the Times as a programmer rather than a businessman, and says he kept the site intentionally simple and largely free for users. He turned down early buyout offers and introduced limited fees mainly for commercial postings, arguing it wasn’t fair for companies to profit off the platform without contributing.

“When I became accidentally wealthy it meant a lot to me that I could help people who were less lucky,” writes Newmark.

Image: NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 06: Craig Newmark attends the 17th Annual Stand Up For Heroes Benefit presented by Bob Woodruff Foundation and NY Comedy Festival at David Geffen Hall on November 06, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images for Bob Woodruff Foundation)