COVID-19: Twitter's Jack Dorsey Donates $1 Billion to Coronavirus Relief Efforts

“I hope this inspires others to do something similar,” Jack Dorsey, chief executive of Square and Twitter, said Tuesday. Jack Dorsey Image Credit...Toby Melville/Reuters. Collage Credit: AnneofCarversville.com.

Jack Dorsey, chief executive of Twitter and Square, startled millions on Tuesday with his announcement of a $1 billion donation, representing about a third of his wealth, to relief programs connected to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Shares of his mobile payments company Square were used to fund a limited liability company called Start Small, reports The New York Times.

Start Small would make grants to beneficiaries, he said, with the expenditures to be recorded in a publicly accessible Google document.

“Why now? The needs are increasingly urgent, and I want to see the impact in my lifetime,” Mr. Dorsey said in a series of tweets announcing his plans. “I hope this inspires others to do something similar.”

The first $100,000 donation will go to America’s Food Fund, started in a  GoFundMe page last week by Leonardo DiCaprio, Laurene Powell Jobs and Apple.

After the most pressing matters of the pandemic are resolved, Mr. Dorsey said, he plans to shift the aim of Start Small to supporting initiatives around universal basic income, under which Americans would get a base level of regular income from the federal government, and women’s health and education efforts.