Former eBay Chief Skoll Starts Fund Aimed at ‘Urgent Threats’

Billionaire philanthropist and ex-eBay president Jeff Skoll has donated $100-million to develop a new foundation to respond to pressing, complex world problems such as water shortages, pandemics, and the Middle East conflict, The New York Times reports.

The Skoll Urgent Threats Fund will be led by Dr. Larry Brilliant, former head of Google.org, Google’s philanthropic wing.

Mr. Skoll has started both nonprofit and for-profit enterprises to deal with major social problems such as sustainability and health care and education in the developing world. “But in the last five years or so, certain issues have emerged very clearly that, if we don’t get ahead of them soon, all of the other things we’re trying to do won’t really matter,” he said.

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