Your question is a good response to the framing of this philanthropy as "giving back". Indeed, if the point of it is to give back, why not simply mold your corporate behemoth into something kinder and gentler.

I don't think this sort of thing is about "giving back" however. I think it's something more ambitious than that: to "do something", do something transformative for the future.

Though Zuck's manifesto isn't well thought out yet, I'm stoked that he's committed to doing something with that $45B. Because hoarding up billions of dollars into family dynasties is pretty much doing nothing.