Jeff Bezos made the largest charitable donation of 2020

Silver Spring, Maryland– Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the world’s wealthiest man, made the largest charitable donation of 2020, a $ 10 billion donation aimed at helping fight climate change, according to the report of a specialized publication.

Bezos personal value amounts to about $ 188 billion according to Forbes magazine, made his huge contribution to launching the Bezos Earth Fund, reported the specialized publication Chronicle of Philanthropy.

The Bezos Earth Fund funds nonprofit groups involved in advocating for the environment and has so far donated $ 790 million to 16 organizations, according to the Chronicle.

Not to mention Bezos ’huge contribution, the total of the 10 largest charitable donations last year – $ 2.6 billion – was the lowest figure since 2011, although many billionaires increased their wealth thanks to the stock market boom that particularly benefited the technology sector last year. According to the group Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies, between March 18 and December 7, Bezos’ wealth increased by 63% from 113 billion to 184 billion dollars.

Phil Knight, who with his wife Penny were the authors of the second and third largest donation according to the Chronicle, increased his wealth by 77% in the same period from March to December. Knight and his wife donated more than $ 900 million to the Knight Foundation and $ 300 million to the University of Oregon.

Fred Kummer, founder of construction company HBE Corporation, and his wife June donated $ 300 million to establish a foundation to support the University of Missouri’s science and technology programs.

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan made the fourth largest donation of the year: $ 250 million to the Center for Tech and Civic Life, which helped oversee security in the November election. Zuckerberg’s wealth nearly doubled to $ 105 billion in the March-December period according to Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Policy Studies.

In the fifth row is Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot, who donated $ 200 million through his foundation to Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, for the construction of a new hospital.

Bezos and the Zuckerbergs took the next steps, each with $ 100 million in donations: Bezos donated them to Feeding America, an organization that helps food banks across the country, and the Zuckerbergs to the same security organization. electoral.

Then there is Stephen Ross, founder of the real estate company Related Companies; David Roux, co-founder of the financial company Silver Lake Partners, and his wife Barbara; George and Renee Karfunkel, real estate investors; Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot and Charles Schwab, founder of the financial company Schwab Financial Services, and his wife Helen.

Two billionaires who donated large sums last year – MacKenzie Scott, Bezos ’ex-wife, and Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey – were not included in the Chronicle list because none of their individual donations were large enough. In February, Chronicle will publish its list of the top 50 donors, which takes into account total donations and not individual contributions.