Marc Benioff to Dedicate Salesforce Tower With Speech on Civic ‘Priorities’
Marc Benioff isn’t planning on waxing long about the gleaming glass sides, the pioneering height or the fancy light show at the top of his Salesforce Tower when it officially opens Tuesday. He’s got more down-to-earth things in mind for the dedication speech he’s set to give.
He’ll be talking about solving homelessness — particularly among children and families — and how the Heading Home Initiative he helped create has met its fundraising goal and what it will do in the future. Making education the best it can be. Cleaning trash off the streets.
These are causes he has personally given millions of dollars to address. And on the day he dedicates the tallest office building San Francisco has ever seen (61 stories), he wants to use this pulpit to pound home the ideas he has for making his hometown a better place.
“In my humble opinion, I have some priorities for the next mayor,” Benioff told The Chronicle on Monday. “I’m talking about public education for our kids, and health care, helping our homeless people, particularly homeless kids. Making streets clean. Trust and safety.”
His list goes on to include fixing up school playgrounds and hospitals — not just in San Francisco, but in Oakland and beyond — reducing income inequality and marshaling the economic power of tech companies like his for the public good. As he rolls it out, his words come in an ever increasing rush — this is clearly a passion of his, and one toward which he has personally steered his money since founding the software giant in 1999.
Benioff and his wife, Lynne, have donated millions of dollars to causes from schools to hospitals, with $250 million alone going to the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospitals in San Francisco and Oakland. Salesforce and Salesforce.org, the foundation arm of the company, have given $220 million to community causes...