Jeff Bezos announces 40 grants totaling $123 million to combat homelessness
Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has announced that he has issued 60 grants of $100,000 or more to six initiatives aimed at battling homelessness in the US. The grants were awarded last week in a $10 million grant competition known as the Giving Pledge.
The grants will be given over the next three years and will be used to support community-based and community-driven programming. The programs will be built with funding provided through Amazon’s global philanthropic arm, the Jeff Foundation.
Each of the grants can be applied for through an Amazon GiveForward drive. Amazon will give out grants ranging from $10,000 to $300,000, with the highest funding available up to $50,000.
“The Giving Pledge is about helping more of the world’s poorest and hardest-to-help people access the knowledge they need to stay off the streets and into permanent housing,” said Bezos. “I’m excited to join with my fellow tech titans and big philanthropy stars to help get people off the streets.”
“We believe in giving,” said Benioff. “We believe in the human potential to do meaningful, transformative and lasting work. And that’s what we’re all here to do.”
The Giving Pledge competition was designed to bring together the world’s top tech and philanthropy CEOs and funders to commit to helping the world’s most vulnerable. To do so, the Giving Pledge calls for the CEO’s or foundation’s giving to be matched dollar for dollar with the amount the CEO hopes to earn via charitable donations by the close of the Giving Pledge’s third year.
In addition to the $10 million in grants announced last week, Bezos has issued grants totaling $21.8 million in the Giving Pledge competition’s first year that will address community development, healthcare, job training, education, and homelessness prevention in the US. The second year of the competition will include grants totaling $20 million that will be used to support community and community-driven initiatives in India. The third year will focus on the United Kingdom and Australia.
Ahead of the announcement, Amazon outlined its approach to homelessness in a blog post by its Chief Operating Officer, Ginni Rometty. Rometty