Lauren Sanchez Bezos, wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, announced Monday that they have donated $102.5 million to 32 nonprofits across the United States to help combat homelessness.
The gifts are part of the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, which has donated more than $850 million to organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam. The fund, established in 2018, has committed $2 billion to focus on donating to existing nonprofits that assist homeless families and build and operate a new network of tuition-free preschools in under-resourced communities. Since 2018, the Bezos family has issued an annual round of grants.
Sanchez said the Bezos Day One Family Fund has a group of advisers each year to help them choose where to donate. This year, the advisory panel includes leaders from advisory groups, nonprofits, and organizations such as the National Alliance to End Homelessness.
"They know what these communities need," Sanchez. "This is just the beginning. This is a $2 billion commitment ... and we will continue to do this."
In 2022, Bezos followed the philanthropic behavior of Microsoft founder Bill Gates and vowed to donate most of his wealth (currently $256 billion) during his lifetime. At the time, he acknowledged it would be a difficult task.
"The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a leveraged way," he said in an interview. "That's not easy."
Bezos' ex-wife MacKenzie Scott is one of the world's most generous philanthropists, along with Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett. Scott's philanthropic foundation, Yield Giving, has given away more than $19.25 billion over the past five years, not counting this year's donations.
