Craig Newmark
Claim to Fame: The Craig in CraigsList
Net Worth: >$10 Million
What He’s Doing: CraigConnects.com
Newmark’s most famous venture, Craigslist, is a function-over-form skeleton of a site that not only changed the way we sell things, but also spelled the death of countless newspapers across the country by transposing their then-profitable classifieds to the Web for free. In doing so he connected all sorts of everyday people – property managers, job seekers and missed connections – by giving them an outlet and leaving it up to them to exchange goods as they saw fit.
But he touts his newest departure, Craig Connects, as “the biggest thing in my life.” Started earlier this week, the goal of his new portal is to link the social efforts of individuals with nonprofits and public service organizations “for the common good via the Internet.” You can read the rest of the mission statement here, and find a growing list of organizations (including KIVA and NPR) already in the fold here.