Pierre Omidyar '84 Awarded 2011 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy
Posted October 26, 2011
Pierre Omidyar, a graduate of St. Andrew's Class of 1984 and founder of eBay, has been awarded the 2011 Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy.
According to the Carnegie Corporation of New York, Omidyar and his wife have committed more than $1 billion to causes promoting entrepreneurship, protecting human rights and battling chronic illness in children. "Through the organizations they created – Omidyar Network, Humanity United, HopeLab, and Ulupono Initiative – the Omidyars aim to create lasting social change by providing people around the world with opportunities to improve their lives," said the official announcement.
In 2009, Omidyar was named the world's top philanthropist by Barron's Magazine for his work with businesses and non-profit organizations that look to positively change society. (Click here to read the article in Barron's.)
Omidyar is praised for making significant contributions to numerous worthy causes and for also supporting the work of other philanthropists along the way.
Omidyar founded eBay in 1995. Today, eBay - where Omidyar serves as chairman - is one of the world's leading online companies, allowing more than 80 million buyers and sellers to use the personal auction system to do business. In 1998, eBay became a public company and Pierre and his wife, Pam, co-founded the Omidyar Foundation to support nonprofit organizations. In 2004, they expanded their efforts to form a new organization, Omidyar Network. Omidyar Network makes for-profit company investments as well as nonprofit organization grants.
To read more about Omidyar and his philanthropic efforts, click here.
To learn more about the Carnegie Corporation and its awardees, click here.
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