Jeff Bezos

SOURCE OF WEALTH: Founder and CEO of Amazon

FUNDING AREAS: Medical Research, Science, Immigrants

OVERVIEW: Jeff Bezos has made several significant grants, but he has not embarked on large-scale and systematic philanthropy. However, Bezos's parents founded the Bezos Family Foundation in 2003, fueling grantmaking for early childhood development and education with Amazon stock. Several family members serve on the foundation's board. In 2017, Bezos put out an open call on Twitter for ideas for his philanthropy that elicited tens of thousands of responses. Bezos has made several large grants recently, including an impressive $10 billion to support climate change initiatives. He has also announced that, although he is not a Giving Pledge signatory, he intends to give away most of his money in his lifetime.

BACKGROUND: Bezos was born in Albuquerque and studied computer science and electrical engineering at Princeton University. He worked on Wall Street, and eventually became the youngest senior vice president at the investment firm D.E. Shaw. He went on to found Amazon, a company whose value has climbed dramatically in recent years. Jeff Bezos made his first major grants alongside his then wife, MacKenzie Bezos; however, since their divorce in 2019, the former couple has engaged in their grantmaking individually. In early 2021, Bezos announced his intention to step down as CEO of Amazon later in the year. He wrote, “As Exec Chair I will stay engaged in important Amazon initiatives but also have the time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions.” On July 20, 2021, Bezos completed an 11 minute space flight aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard launch vehicle.

ISSUES:

CLIMATE CHANGE: In early 2020, Bezos pledged $10 billion toward the creation of the Bezos Earth Fund to combat climate change, which Bezos has called “the biggest threat to our planet.” He has given $100 million each to the Environmental Defense Fund, the Natural Resources Defense Council, The Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Fund, as well as the World Resources Institute. In 2021, Bezos pledged $203.7 million in grants “to nonprofits working to advance climate justice, advocate for climate-smart economic recovery, and spur innovation in decarbonization pathways.” Some of organizations these promised grants went to include Seed Commons ($10 million), a national network of loan funds; Future Coalition ($3 million), a national network of youth-led organizations; and the Emerald Cities Collaborative ($12 million), a national network of groups working on climate resilience projects with economic benefits for low-income communities of color. In June 2022, the fund pledged $50 million to groups working in Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Panama working toward marine protection. In August 2023, Bezos pledged $100 million dollars toward recovery efforts in Maui following the catastrophic wildfires.

MEDICAL RESEARCH: One of Jeff and MacKenzie's first major grants, made along with other family members, was a $10 million donation to the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center to jumpstart a program to expand the use of certain types of immunotherapy for breast, ovarian and prostate cancers. The family made another $20 million grant for this work in 2014. And, in 2017, the Bezos family gave $35 million more to the Hutchinson Center. In 2011, Jeff and MacKenzie made a donation of $15 million to Princeton University, their alma mater, to create the Bezos Center for Neural Circuit Dynamics, which focuses on a relatively new field of research known as "connectomics," and includes measuring neural connectivity and mining that data to better understand the brain, which may prove crucial in understanding and treating a variety of neurological diseases. In late 2021, Bezos donated $166 million to NYU Langone Health, a medical center affiliated with New York University.

EDUCATION: The Bezos Family Foundation has given millions in grants, both large and small, for education. It also funds the Bezos Scholars Program at the Aspen Institute every year. Family members sit on the board of the foundation, which is funded with gifts of Amazon stock from Bezos’ parents. As far as his personal education giving, Bezos has supported Worldreader, a nonprofit started by one of his former employees that brings reading to parts of the world which previously had no access through the use of e-readers. Bezos donated about $300,000 to start the program, and donated another $500,000 in subsequent years. Bezos also launched the Day 1 Academies Fund, which is overseen by his Day One Fund and works to build “a network of high-quality, full-scholarship Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities.”

ARTS & CULTURE: In 2011, Bezos gave $10 million to the Museum of History & Industry to establish a Center for Innovation at its new location.  In 2021, he pledged $200 million to the Smithsonian Institution to benefit its National Air and Space Museum, allocating $130 million toward a new education center, and $70 million to support the museum’s extensive renovation project.

IMMIGRANTS: Bezos and MacKenzie donated $33 million to a scholarship fund for young “dreamers,” immigrants brought to the United States as children. The funds support TheDream.US, a scholarship program that has awarded more than 1,700 immigrants more than $19 million in financial assistance since it launched. The money funds 1,000 college scholarships. The motivation is personal here, as Bezos' adoptive father Mike left Cuba as part of Operation Pedro Pan and arrived in the United States.

HUMAN SERVICES: Bezos gave $100 million toward Feeding America’s Covid-19 Response Fund, which supports 200 member food banks across the country. He also donated $25 million to start the Amazon Relief Fund, which will offer grants of $400 to $5,000 to “Amazon Flex Delivery Partners, Delivery Service Partner Delivery Associates, Temporary Associates employed by eligible staffing agencies, and drivers of eligible line haul partners under financial distress due to a COVID-19 diagnosis or quarantine.” He also gave $105.9 million through the Bezos Day One Fund’s Day 1 Families Fund to 42 organizations helping homeless families in 24 states. He also pledged at least $50 million to All in Washington, a COVID-19-relief program in Washington State.

OTHER: Bezos has pledged $100 million each to Van Jones and chef José Andrés as part of a philanthropic initiative called the Courage and Civility Award. The new award intends to honor “unifiers and not vilifiers” in a politically divided world. He also gave $100 million to the Obama Foundation “to help expand the scope of programming that reaches emerging leaders.” In November 2022, he announced a $100 million award to country singer Dolly Parton as part of his new Bezos Award for Courage & Civility, which recognizes “leaders who aim high, find solutions and who always do it with civility.”

LOOKING FORWARD: With Bezos’ announcement that he intends to give away the majority of his net worth in his lifetime, expect him to spend more time on his philanthropy and other interests. While he has the means and ability to become a major donor on par with the Gates Foundation, what shape this will take is anyone’s guess. He has said that climate change and unifying humanity’s social and political divisions remain top priorities.