The recent donation made by Jeff Bezos is in the news for two reasons: on the one hand, it is worth more than $120 million. On the other hand, it is not yet known who the beneficiary of this donation is.
The donation made by Bezos, first reported by Forbes, was disclosed to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). This donation consisted of a percentage of shares of Amazon stock.
Specifically, the percentage is equivalent to 47,727 shares donated between 3 and 4 May. At the hearing, it was stated that he contributed to a non-profit organization, but there was no mention of what this organization was.
Jeff Bezos’ donations
Bezos is a businessman who has made numerous donations and philanthropic actions. Proof of this is the Bezos Earth Fund, with an endowment of more than 10 billion dollars aimed at alleviating climate change.
Another businessman’s charitable action is the Bezos Day One Fund, dedicated to building a network of free pre-schools for low-income families and other measures to provide financial assistance to these people.
What does not seem clear is whether one of these two foundations is the recipient of the current donation. Sources connected to Bezos himself have declined to comment, so the actual recipient is not yet known.
What is known is that the donation is not destined for the Smithsonian Institute or the National Air and Space Museum, as confirmed by a spokesperson. It would have made sense since this businessman has pledged $200 million to support the new Bezos Learning Centre at the Air and Space Museum, which is planned for 2026.
On the other hand, Bezos has not made any statement on his social networks either. We recall that he usually communicates his philanthropic actions through Instagram, something he has not done in this case either.
Low profile on donations
Despite announcing some of his philanthropic actions, the truth is that these announcements have almost always been aimed at seeking media impact to attract more funding.
In general, Bezos is not very transparent about his donations. He prefers to keep a low profile regarding the recipients, which is not uncommon. Recall that, for example, Elon Musk donated more than $5.7 billion in Tesla shares to charities in 2021 without clarifying the final destination.
Bezos’s is a low-profile action recurrent among some of the great American fortunes. In this case, over the next few weeks, we may find out the recipient of Bezos’ donation: although it may also happen that, as on other occasions, we will never know exactly who has benefited, as there is no obligation to reveal the receiver explicitly.