Mark Zuckerberg's charity pledge draws uncharitable sniping

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg's gone megawatt in philanthropy and publicity. He's joining Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett's billionaires' Giving Pledge to give away vast chunks of his fortune. And that's also inspired some less friendly questions.

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Should we know how much? Should it be on his Facebook Page? Is bragging on your giving a way to inspire others to emulate you? Or is this a publicity splash with tax benefits on the side?

That tax benefit is often mentioned coverage of Zuckerberg's second big charity announcement. The first was pledging $100 million to Newark N.J. schools (just before The Social Network film opened to portray him as a conniving, self-centered boy genius).

Does it really take this sunburst of attention to help draw some of the world's wealthiest on board for giving? Is there any chance that, given the tax break they're going get for at least the next two years, if the Obama-GOP Senate deal survives, they'd make the beneficiary the U.S. national debt?

Carl Mortished, opining for the The Globe and Mail, snipes:

I suspect the main motive for the "Giving Pledge" is vanity, a lingering and often mistaken sense of guilt among the very wealthy and a bit of tax avoidance from charitable contributions. These men and women may wish to believe that funding vast campaigns to lift people from poverty in Africa, to fight malaria is a great idea but that is because they have not given these projects even 1 per cent of the thought that goes into the business enterprises that made them rich.

Mortished's idea is that, instead, Zuckerberg should,

Walk away from Facebook and start again. If he really wants to help the poor, he should come up with good idea that will make money, jobs and wealth.

Come back, Maimonides. He's the 12th century Jewish scholar who wrote persuasively on giving. He had a ladder of the virtuous ways to give. At the top: Giving anonymously in ways that empowered people to one day break free of need.

In times of stepped up need, have any of us been able to step up our giving? Is it best to do so anonymously or to set a public example for others?