Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)
Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world, announced on Thursday he has donated $98.5 million to 32 organizations in 23 states that are helping homeless families. The gifts to each organization received ranged from $1.25 million to $5 million.
The Amazon founder and CEO gave the money through his Bezos Day One Fund, which he announced in September 2018. At launch, Bezos pledged $2 billion to the fund, which has two areas of focus: funding the work of organizations who help homeless families, and creating Montessori-inspired preschools across the country.
The day that the new gifts were announced, Bezos filed with the Securities Exchange Commission that he was donating 56,702 share of Amazon stock — worth just under $99 million — to nonprofits. The timing of the Bezos stock donation makes it seem like the shares could have been donated to Day One Fund grant recipients. A spokesman for Amazon declined to comment.
Last year Bezos gave $97.5 million to organizations fighting homelessness to 24 organizations in 16 states. This year Bezos donated an extra million to the cause and increased the number of recipients, which span from Maryland and New York to Alaska and Hawaii.
While Bezos has posted on Instagram several times in the last year about visiting Montessori-inspired schools, no official announcement has been made regarding the Bezos Day One Fund’s progress on creating a network of preschools. According to the Bezos Day One Fund’s website, the Day 1 Academies Fund is currently hiring.
