Jeff Bezos is proving to be a man of his word. After announcing he plans to give away his $115.6 billion fortune during his lifetime, the Amazon co-founder has acted on his promise. The entrepreneur’s rendezvous with philanthropy commenced with giving away a whopping $123 million to 40 organizations in 26 US states and Puerto Rico. Ranging from $600,000 to $5 million, the donations are effective immediately and are part of a $2 billion total commitment to fighting homelessness, the Day One Fund said Tuesday in a statement.
Bezos promised in an interview with CNN that he plans to donate his wealth during his lifetime without specifying how and when. The centibillionaire hoped the generous donations would “help families move from unsheltered homelessness and shelters to permanent housing with the services they require to achieve stability.” Bezos stated, ‘The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way. It’s not easy – building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work, a bunch of very smart teammates and I’m finding that philanthropy is very similar – it’s not easy it’s very hard.’
He added, ‘We are building the capacity to being able to give away this money. There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too. So you have to think about it carefully and you have to have brilliant people on the team.’ Who better to learn about philanthropy than your ex-wife, mega-donor MacKenzie Scott, Mr. Bezos? The author has raised the bar and how by giving away $2 billion to almost 350 organizations in just seven months.
