How Steve Jobs and his wife secretly gave away TEN OF MILLIONS of their own money to charity... even as critics accused him of not doing enough

Apple CEO Tim Cook said that Jobs donated $50million to Stanford hospitals

U2 singer Bono praised Jobs for his 'invaluable' contributions to fight against AIDS

In his lifetime, Steve Jobs was roundly criticized for seemingly not donating enough money to philanthropic causes.

However, it has been revealed recently that the late founder of Apple and his wife - both intensely private individuals - quietly made large donations to charity.

Jobs never addressed his philanthropic endeavors and refused to discuss the subject even with his biographer, Walter Isaacson. But now, his widow, Laurene Powell Jobs, has publicly spoken out about her charitable work.



Humble do-gooder: Steve Jobs, pictured here with his wife in 2011, was often criticized for seemingly not donating enough money to charity, but as it turns out, the Apple founder quietly gave away millions of dollars

Intensely private: Laurene Powell Jobs, founder and chair of Emerson Collective and widow of the late Apple founder Steve Jobs, designed her organization in a way that allows her to make donations anonymously

Also, it has surfaced recently that the founder of Apple Inc. donated $50million of his own money to hospitals in California and funded HIV and AIDS research.



'We're really careful about amplifying the great work of others in every way that we can, and we don't like attaching our names to things,' Laurene Powell Jobs said in an interview to the New York Times.

Steve Jobs' widow has founded Emerson Collective LLC, which is structured on the model of a small business, allowing the organization to make anonymous donations to various causes, from grants to political campaigns.

Powell Jobs has been actively backing College Track, the college preparatory organization she co-founded in 1997.



'I’ve always appreciated that being the wife of Steve Jobs, she could have played that as much as possible, but she doesn’t,' said Marshall Lott, who has worked at College Track.

Pet project: Powell Jobs founded College Track, a college preparation organization, in 1997, and she has been sponsoring the group ever since

Every year, the animation studio Pixar, which Mr Jobs helped launch, hosts a screening of a film to raise money for Powell Jobs' College Track

Every year, the award-winning animation studio Pixar, which Mr Jobs helped launch, hosts a screening of a film to raise money for College Track, suggesting that the family have been doing charity work behind the scenes.

Jobs' attitude toward philanthropy stood in sharp contrast to that of other billionaires, most of them only too happy to draw the public's attention to their commitment to philanthropy.

Speaking out: U2 lead singer and humanitarian Bono, who was friends with Jobs, wrote an op-ed insisting that his contributions to the fight against AIDS in Africa were 'invaluable'

In 2011, Steve Jobs found himself in the middle of a controversy following the publication of a New York Times article, which claimed that there was no public record of the Apple founder giving money to charity.

In response, U2 lead singer and humanitarian Bono, who was friends with Jobs, wrote an op-ed insisting that Jobs' contributions to the fight against AIDS in Africa were 'invaluable,' according to Apple Insider.

The musician revealed that Apple, which has been supporting his (Product)RED charity, also has been the chief financial backer of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, adding that the tech giant has given millions of dollars toward HIV research.

Last year, Jobs' successor, Tim Cook, said that his late boss gave $50million to Stanford hospitals, which went towards building a children's medical center and a new main building.

Jobs also declined an invitation to join The Giving Pledge campaign spearheaded by Microsoft founder Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, which encourages the one-percenters to give away most of their wealth to charity in their lifetime.



Enigmatic: Jobs never addressed his philanthropic efforts and refused to discuss the subject even with his biographer, Walter Isaacson



