Facebook cofounder Mark Zuckerberg and wife Priscilla Chan donated 18 million of their shares in Facebook to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation.

The shares of the world's largest social networking site were valued at $27.71 per unit on close. Thus the value of the donation of 18 million shares was about $499 million to the charity. Emmett D. Carson, chief executive officer of the Silicon Valley Community Foundation said that the charity is thrilled with the extraordinary gift and said that the large donation would inspire next generation of philanthropists.

Zuckerberg said on his Facebook page that, "Today, in order to lay the foundation for new projects, we've made a contribution of 18 million Facebook shares to the Silicon Valley Community Foundation. Together, we will look for areas in education and health to focus on next. I'm hopeful we'll be able to have as positive an impact in our next set of projects."

The latest donation is a part of The Giving Pledge, which is a public commitment made by Mark Zuckerberg to donate 50% of his total wealth earned during the lifetime.