The tech boom of the ’90s catapulted the rapid spread of information, produced early stage social networking, and made huge fortunes for Internet entrepreneurs on the leading edge of the digital economy. The consciousness of inequality and devastation was also rapidly broadened, giving rise to the evolution of large-scale philanthropy, from a post-retirement ambition into a privilege made possible by the Internet phenomenon of generating billions of dollars in a short period of time.

David Bohnett dove into philanthropy immediately after his company, GeoCities, sold to Yahoo Inc. in 1999 for a reported $3.5B. The ramp up to his generosity reaches back to his graduate school days at the University of Michigan. “I earned an MBA following an undergraduate degree at USC. I worked as a hotline volunteer and campus activist for the university’s LGBT Resource Center. Since then, my drive to be in service of the greater good – with the intent to inspire others to do the same – has been marked with a mix of technological innovation and the hands-on cultivation of relationships within the context of community building,” explains Bohnett.

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