Jeff Bezos unveils $2 BILLION fund to help families in low-income communities, amid criticism that Amazon has done little to fight homelessness in its hometown Seattle
- ‘Bezos Day One Fund’ aims to help homeless families, low-income communities
- Bezos says it will contribute to ‘existing nonprofits’ and fund new preschools
- The CEO says schools will operate in a way that ‘the child will be the customer’
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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos announced Thursday he was launching a philanthropic fund with a $2 billion initial commitment to help homeless families and launch preschools in low-income communities.
The world’s richest individual made the announcement on Twitter a year after asking for ideas on how he could use his personal fortune — now estimated at some $163 billion — for charitable efforts.
The ‘Bezos Day One Fund’ will contribute to ‘existing nonprofits that help homeless families’ and also fund ‘a network of new, nonprofit, tier-one preschools in low-income communities,’ he wrote.
Amazon has been heavily criticized in recent months, however, for failing to failing to help out with the housing crisis in its own hometown, Seattle.
The firm pushed back against a tax earlier this summer that would have raised money for affordable housing in the city.
While the so-called ‘Amazon Tax’ was unanimously approved by the city council back in May, it was quickly overturned just weeks later after pressure from the company – which recently hit $1 trillion in value.
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Jeff Bezos is donating $2 billion to a new charitable fund focusing on helping the homeless and creating preschools for underserved communities. The world’s richest individual made the announcement a year after asking for ideas on how he could use his fortune
Grants will be given to organizations ‘doing compassionate, needle-moving work to provide shelter and hunger support to address the needs of young families,’ Bezos said.
The fund will also seek to launch and operate ‘a network of high-quality, full-scholarship, Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities,’ he wrote.
‘We will build an organization to directly operate these schools.’
Bezos said the schools would ‘use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon’ and that ‘the child will be the customer.’
The $2 billion initiative, while significant, is far less than the philanthropic efforts of other billionaires including Microsoft’s Bill Gates, who has donated tens of billions to his foundation, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, who has pledged to donate 99 percent of his shares to an organization focused on public good.
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Amazon has been heavily criticized in recent months, however, for failing to failing to help out with the housing crisis in its own hometown, Seattle. The firm’s Spheres HQ is shown
Bezos said the schools would ‘use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon’ and that ‘the child will be the customer.’ File photo
It also falls short of the ‘giving pledge’ initiative launched by Gates and billionaire investor Warren Buffett, who have encouraged wealthy individuals to pledge half their fortunes for philanthropy.
Bezos’s fortune comes mainly from his stake in Amazon, the diversified online firm which briefly hit $1 trillion in market value this month and is the second most valuable company after Apple.
He also operates the private space exploration firm Blue Origin and owns the Washington Post newspaper.
THE TRILLION DOLLAR RISE OF AMAZON
The first book sold on Amazon was ‘Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought’ by Douglas Hofstadter.
1994: Jeff Bezos incorporates what would become Amazon under the name ‘Cadabra Inc.’ He later re-named the company under its current name.
Bezos chose the name Amazon in reference to the Amazon River, the biggest river in the world, as he hoped Amazon would be the biggest bookstore in the world.
1995: Amazon opens up shop as a bookstore. The first book sold on Amazon was titled ‘Fluid Concepts and Creative Analogies: Computer Models of the Fundamental Mechanisms of Thought’ by Douglas Hofstadter.
1997: Amazon goes public at $18 per share on the Nasdaq under the symbol ‘AMZN.’
1998: Bezos begins selling more than just books on Amazon. The firm opens up sales of music, movies, consumer electronics, video games, toys and more.
2000: The firm introduces its now-famous logo, which features a curved arrow leading from A to Z, with an arrow shaped like a smile. The logo is meant to suggest that Amazon sells every kind of product from A to Z.
In 1998, Jeff Bezos began selling more than just books on Amazon. It ventured into consumer electronics, music, movies, video games, toys and many other products
2001: Amazon turns a profit for the first time ever, proving to investors that the firm’s business model could stick.
2002: The company launches Amazon Web Services (AWS) as a service for internet traffic data, but it would go on to grow into the firm’s cloud computing behemoth.
2006: Amazon rolls out Fulfillment by Amazon, its massive logistics unit that now threatens the likes of UPS and FedEx.
In 2006, Amazon rolled out Fulfillment by Amazon, its massive logistics unit
2007: Amazon releases the first Kindle e-reader, in a move that was perceived as a disruption to the traditional publishing industry.
2012: Amazon doubles down on consumer hardware, launching the Amazon Fire HD tablet.
2014: Amazon launches the Fire phone, meant to be a competitor to the iPhone, which ends up flopping. The firm discontinued the device a year later.
2015: Amazon launches the original Echo speaker, a groundbreaking device, due to its speech recognition and AI capabilities.
2017: Amazon becomes the first streaming company to earn an Oscars nomination for the drama ‘Manchester By the Sea.’
Later that year, Amazon announced it would purchase Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. The move has only strengthened its stronghold over the retail market.
Despite his fortune, Bezos has not been a major philanthropic donor and Amazon has been criticized in its home of Seattle, Washington, for doing little to address problems of the growing homeless population.
Last year, he donated $33 million to fund scholarship for ‘dreamers,’ the name given to undocumented children of immigrants who face legal obstacles in attending college or university.
He has also made donations for cancer research and to Princeton University, his alma mater.
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