It’s no secret that Hillary Clinton is well ahead of her presidential opponent Donald Trump when it comes to fundraising from Silicon Valley — but the second-largest donation of the election season just pushed her financial lead even further. The $20 million infusion comes from Asana and Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz and his wife Cari Tuna.
Several funds, PACs, and Democratic organizations supporting Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign have received a combined donation of $20 million. In a post titled “Compelled to Act”, Moskovitz explains the donation, saying, “If Secretary Clinton wins the election, America will advance much further toward the world we hope to see,” which is one that of “increased tolerance, diversity and interdependence in the name of mutual prosperity.”
The League of Conservation Voters Victory Fund and For Our Future PAC, two organizations focused on environmental and labor issues, will each receive $5 million, while the other $10 million will go to the DSCC, the DCCC, MoveOn.org Political Action, Color Of Change PAC, as well as “several nonpartisan voter registration and GOTV efforts.”
Moskovitz said in his post announcing the donation that he was motivated in part by a desire to defeat Trump in the November election. “If Donald Trump wins, the country will fall backward, and become more isolated from the global community,” he wrote.
“This decision was not easy, particularly because we have reservations about anyone using large amounts of money to influence elections,” Moskovitz added. “That said, we believe in trying to do as much good as we can, which in this case means using the tools available to us (as they are also available to the opposition).”
Moskovitz and Tuna have been supporting philanthropic causes with a serious focus on efficiency through Good Ventures, but this is their first presidential campaign donation. The couple are the youngest to agree to the Giving Pledge, an initiative by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett that asks billionaires to give away most of their wealth to charity. Moskovitz’s wealth is estimated to be approximately $10.5 billion, and Tuna has charted the couple’s giving as president of Good Ventures.
Tuna explained her philanthropic interests in a 2014 Washington Post profile, saying that she wanted to invest in U.S. policy, international aid, scientific advancements and global catastrophe response. Campaign finance is new to Tuna and Moskovitz, but a bitter campaign cycle inspired them to branch out.
The election, Moskovitz wrote, “has become a referendum on who we want to be — as individuals, as a nation and as a society. Will we be driven by fear, towards tribalism, emphasizing the things that divide us? Will we focus on how to advantage those most similar to us while building barriers to separate us from the rest of the world?”
The $20 million donation puts Moskovitz and Tuna in the ranks of mega-donors like Tom Steyer, a former hedge fund manager who has reportedly put over $31.5 million into this year’s campaign. Steyer focuses his donations on climate change initiatives and is the co-founder of the For Our Future PAC that received $5 million from Moskovitz and Tuna. Steyer advised the couple on their foray into political giving — prior to this, Moskovitz had only donated a little more than $5,000 to political campaigns, according to Federal Election Commission data.
We’ll have more details soon.
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