In his lifetime, Jeff Bezos, one of the wealthiest persons in the world, will donate his wealth to charity. Lauren Sanchez, his significant other, concurs with the choice.
The founder of Amazon claims that most of his $124 billion annual net wealth will be invested in worthwhile causes. He pledged to utilize his fortune to support those who advance the political and social well-being of the neighborhood and combat climate change. Bezos’ refusal to join Giving Pledge was criticized by the general public, which led to the announcement. The group offers the richest people in the world a platform to donate a portion of their income to good causes.
Bezos stated in an interview that the Bezos Courage and Civility Award was something he and his girlfriend had previously set to start when they started dating about three years ago. Dolly Parton got $100 million as the prize this year. Chef Jose Andres and CNN climate activist Van Jones have previously received the distinction before Parton.
“When you think of Dolly. Look, everyone smiles, right? She is just beaming with light. And all she wants to do is bring light into other people’s worlds. And so we couldn’t have thought of someone better than to give this award to Dolly, and we know she’s going to do amazing things with it,” Sanchez said.
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Bezos handing the award to Dolly
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos stated that the Courage and Civility Award reminds people of those who go above and beyond to serve the public. Over ten years, Parton gave her money to a vast array of causes and organizations. For instance, Parton donated $1 million to the Vanderbilt University Medical Center to aid in the study of vaccines.
“I felt so proud to have been part of that little seed money that will hopefully grow into something great and help heal this world. I’m a very proud girl today to know I had anything at all to do with something that’s going to help us through this crazy pandemic,” she said at the time.
She also founded the Dollywood Foundation in 1998, intending to assist kids all across the world. To make literature more accessible to kids, she later created The Imagination Library. Through the Dolly Parton Scholarship, she also offered $15,000 in scholarships to college students. Parton connected with people who couldn’t afford college through the program. Parton’s dedication to giving back to the community was evident to Bezos and Sanchez. Thus, they decided to present the artist with the Courage and Civility Award.
“Jeff [Bezos] and I are so proud to share that we have a new Bezos Courage and Civility Award winner — a woman who gives with her heart and leads with love and compassion in every aspect of her work,” wrote Sanchez in an Instagram post.
“I try to put my money where my heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money. Thank you @JeffBezos #LaurenSanchez,” answered Parton in a Tweet.
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Managing the donated money
Bezos and Sanchez still have to figure out how much money they’ll give to charity.
“The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way. It’s not easy. Building Amazon was not easy. It took a lot of hard work and a bunch of very smart teammates, hard-working teammates, and I’m finding — and I think Lauren is finding the same thing — that charity and philanthropy are very similar. There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too. So you have to think about it carefully, and you have to have brilliant people on the team,” he said.
Photo Credit: Gareth Cattermole
Source: CNN
