Dec. 22 (UPI) -- Tech billionaire and Brigham Young University grad Jeff Green formally broke ties with the Mormon Church and is pledging to give away 90% of his fortune.
Green, CEO of digital ad firm The Trade Desk, is the wealthiest person from Utah. He publicly disavowed ties with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints on Monday in a fiery letter to LDS President Russell Nelson.
He told Nelson that while most members are good people, the church is "actively and currently doing harm in the world." He accused the church of hoarding more than $100 billion in wealth and demanded the church do more to help the world and its members.
Green announced a $600,000 donation to Equality Utah, an LGBTQ advocacy group. Green said nearly half that amount is for a new scholarship program for Utah LGBTQ students, including those who may want to leave Brigham Young University, which is affiliated with the church and opposes homosexuality.
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Green made the giveaway announcement via The Giving Pledge, an organization through which 230 wealthy people have promised to donate the majority of their fortunes to help solve worldwide problems.
Forbes reported Green's October 2021 net worth at $4.4 billion.
In his giveaway pledge, Green said he's convinced that money can't buy happiness. He wants to combine money with people and time to create a data-driven, rational philanthropy, to deploy capital against humanity's toughest problems.
Green's family has set up a foundation called Dataphilanthropy to "invest in projects where we can apply data to understand progress, mistakes and opportunities."
Green wrote he didn't have an ideal home life as a kid and struggled financially well into adulthood.
When he was 17, Green met a homeless man in Denver and spent hours listening to the man's stories of the events in his life that led to homelessness. Green came away from that experience believing that "No one gets to their station in life alone, good or bad."
