Carlos Slim gets behind Kahn Academy with largew donation

 

I try to tell everyone I know about the Khan Academy... he probably appreciates the cash more.

Carlos Slim's Foundation Puts Its Weight Behind Khan Academy

$300 million

 

by 

Kerry A. Dolan, Forbes Staff

 

The world’s richest man, Carlos Slim Helu of Mexico, is now publicly supporting Salman Khan and his nonprofit educational website, Khan Academy, according to Twitter messages from Slim’s son-in-law, Arturo Elias and a press release issued by the Carlos Slim Foundation on Monday.

At a press conference in Mexico on Monday, Salman Khan and Carlos Slim announced they had signed an agreement of cooperation to allow students, teachers, researchers and others in Mexico to get access to education and training courses by translating them into Spanish.
The Carlos Slim Foundation pledged to support Khan Academy and contribute “all the necessary resources” for the alliance, according to the press release. Specifics on how much money that will entail were not disclosed.

 

 

 

The alliance between the two groups sets out a goal of having 1,000 Khan Academy videos translated into Spanish by April this year. Slim’s foundation also pledged to invest more than $300 million (4 billion pesos) over the next three years into programs that improve the development of “human capital.”

Salman Khan and his Khan Academy were featured on the cover of Forbes in November 2012 in a compelling article written by my colleague Michael Noer. Khan, 36, started Khan Academy in a closet at his home in Silicon Valley, but with backing from the  likes of Bill Gates and venture capitalist John Doerr and his wife Ann, has expanded into a 36-person company serving 10 million students around the world with free video talks on the Internet explaining everything from calculus to chemistry.

Slim’s son-in-law and spokesmen Arturo Elias also met with Salman Khan and posted a photo of the two of  them on Twitter mid-afternoon Eastern time on Monday. He also tweeted (in Spanish) that the Carlos Slim Foundation will bring Khan Academy to Mexico and Latin America in Spanish. Earlier Monday Elias tweeted that he would be making a big announcement about the Slim Foundation and education in Mexico and Latin America.

Carlos Slim has a particular view on charitable giving. He has not signed the Bill Gates- and Warren Buffett-backed Giving Pledge and he has been critical of charitable efforts to cure poverty. His preference is to give people tools they can use to support themselves. Thus his Slim Foundation has supported education and use of technology.

 Khan Academy, which blends both of those things, is therefore a good fit in Slim’s definition of useful philanthropy.

Slim joined the ranks of Forbes list of the world’s biggest givers in 2011. He has given $4 billion to his Carlos Slim Foundation, which focuses on education and health care.
Slim topped Forbes’ 2012 list of the World’s Billionaires with a net worth estimated at $69 billion. His net worth has climbed to a recent $77 billion.



This post was updated late Monday night to include details of the alliance provided by Carlos Slim’s Foundation.





Source:  http://www.forbes.com/sites/kerryadolan/2013/01/14/carlos-slims-foundation-puts-its-weight-behind-khan-academy/