Recent multimillion dollar gifts from technology giants such as Microsoft's Bill Gates and Netscape's Jim Clark and Jim Barksdale are paving the way for younger high-tech entrepreneurs to develop philanthropy plans within Silicon Valley, the Associated Press reports.

Peter Hero, head of the Community Foundation Silicon Valley told AP that many of these newly wealthy individuals "had few examples of how to give."

That has started to change since the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation gave billions of dollars for education and health care causes. Clark, founder of Netscape, recently gave $150 million to Stanford University, and former Netscape CEO Barksdale gave $100 million to the University of Mississippi Foundation.

The younger high-tech set has taken their cues from these leaders. For example, the local Second Harvest Food Bank, has seen a 23-percent increase in donations. The YMCA of Santa Clara Valley raised almost $10 million during its capital campaign -- which only had a goal of raising $7 million, AP reports.

Robb Hermanson, the YMCA's vice president of development, told AP the amount of wealth in the area had been out of balance with the relatively low amount of giving. This is starting to change, Hermanson said.

Since those donations often come in the form of tech stocks -- which rose an average of 130 percent in 1999 -- the size of the gifts have been higher, the article reports.

The news isn't all good, however. Even though Silicon Valley has one of the highest per-capital incomes in the nation, the region is still well below the national average in philanthropic giving, AP reports.

The Emergency Housing Consortium of Santa Clara Valley is one place that hasn't seen a notable increase in giving in recent years. The number of homeless people in the area is on the rise due to growing housing costs, the article reports.

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