Mark Zuckerberg, Priscilla Chan Promise to Donate 99 percent of Facebook Shares

Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan announced that they will be donating 99 percent of their Facebook shares to charity "during their lives." The announcement was made in the form of an open letter, which they penned to their newborn baby girl named Max.

In the post accompanying the letter, the new parents wrote:

"For her birth, we wrote a letter to her about the world we hope she grows up in.

It's a world where our generation can advance human potential and promote equality -- by curing disease, personalizing learning, harnessing clean energy, connecting people, building strong communities, reducing poverty, providing equal rights and spreading understanding across nations.

We are committed to doing our small part to help create this world for all children. We will give 99% of our Facebook shares -- currently about $45 billion -- during our lives to join many others in improving this world for the next generation."

The shares that Zuckerberg, who is the co-founder and chief executive of the social media website, and Chan own are currently worth more than $45 billion. The money will be managed under a new organization named the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.

"Our initial areas of focus will be personalized learning, curing disease, connecting people and building strong communities," the couple wrote in the lengthy letter posted on Facebook.

They stressed the importance of not only curing illnesses, but also preventing them, hoping that one day there will not be as much suffering in the world.

They wrote:

"Today, most people die from five things -- heart disease, cancer, stroke, neurodegenerative and infectious diseases -- and we can make faster progress on these and other problems.

Once we recognize that your generation and your children's generation may not have to suffer from disease, we collectively have a responsibility to tilt our investments a bit more towards the future to make this reality. Your mother and I want to do our part.

Curing disease will take time. Over short periods of five or ten years, it may not seem like we're making much of a difference. But over the long term, seeds planted now will grow, and one day, you or your children will see what we can only imagine: a world without suffering from disease."

It is unclear how the money will be managed. The couple has been generous with their money in the past. This year, they donated $75 million to the San Francisco General Hospital. They have also donated to school systems, educational programs and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Zuckerberg and Chan met when they were attending Harvard University. They got married in 2012.