the Bezos Day One Fund

The richest person ever has decided to spread the love.

On Jeff Bezos’ Twitter on Thursday, the Amazon billionaire shared a statement announcing the creation of his new charitable organization: the Bezos Day One Fund.

As Bezos’ wealth ballooned, many have wondered what he was planning to do with all that cash. Despite the fact that philanthropy is one way to justify the otherwise criminal income disparity that Jeff Bezos’ fervent faith in capitalism enables, it seemed, oh, uncouth, that Bezos hadn’t stepped up in the same way as some of his fellow billionaires. 

Now, we have movement. Bezos will initially invest $2 billion of his $150 billion U.S. dollars into existing homelessness charities and in the development of early childhood education centers via the Fund.

As he mentions in the note, Bezos is no stranger to charitable giving. He has already spent millions on education, art, medical research, and notably, on the creation of a $33 million scholarship for Dreamers. 

However, his work in Seattle around homelessness has been controversial. He has conspicuously not signed on to the billionaire’s Giving Pledge. And one of the easiest ways Bezos could have an impact would be to pay his warehouse workers fare wages, and, heck, even let them unionize.

Still, the Bezos Day One Fund looks promising. Bezos is giving his money directly to community leaders — the cash-strapped experts on the ground who need it most, and who can potentially have the most impact. And access to quality early childhood education is a proven way to enable the success of children in the future. So Bezos is putting his money to good, and much-needed use.

Last June, Bezos put out a call for how he could help the world with a think-big philanthropic approach. The Bezos Day One Fund appears to be his answer. Whether he’ll pony up the “majority” of his wealth toward “giving back” like other billionaires in his league remains to be seen.