Just before the release of the movie “The Social Network”, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg announced he was donating $100 million for education that will go toward improving public schools in Newark, New Jersey. A new foundation named Startup: Education will focus on improving education in the United States. The mayor will be working with the education plan to strategize this reform.

Zuckerberg is hoping that his donation being public will help to influence others to do the same thing. This is the first donation that he has decided to do with his $6.9 billion fortune, making him one of the youngest billionaires on the Forbes 400 list of richest Americans.

Despite some skepticism over the timing of the donation being so near to the movie release,  the donation is nonetheless valuable. With over 500 million users to Facebook, it is good to see that the social network is giving back to the community in such a large way. Hopefully, this is the beginning of more donations to come and not just for good press to surround the movie.