He's one of the richest people in the world and he wants your help in figuring out how to give away his money. On Thursday, Amazon's founder Jeff Bezos, with a net worth of more than $76 billion, turned to Twitter to ask for suggestions for how to donate part of his wealth. In less than ten hours, Mr Bezos has received over 11,000 replies to his now-viral tweet.
"I want much of my philanthropic activity to be helping people in the here and now - short term - at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact," Mr Bezos writes on Twitter. "If you have ideas, just reply to this tweet with the idea (and if you think this approach is wrong, would love to hear that too.)"
Recommendations range from food programs for children, to protecting forests and fighting homelessness.
Take a look at the 5 most popular recommendations as of writing this:
1. A writer recommends funding charities that work to end homelessness among LGBTQ youth:
2. A German politician suggests this interesting experiment:
3. This person suggests using the money to rethink and revamp the education system:
4. Fund women's healthcare, suggests this person:
5. This person has an idea: ask Bill Gates for advice:
Mr Bezos has previously invested in longer-term bets like space exploration and kept quieter about other givings.
The e-commerce executive has said he will sell about $1 billion of Amazon stock annually to fund his company Blue Origin, which aims to cut the cost of space travel and kick off entrepreneurship in the cosmos. For philanthropy, Mr Bezos has supported a foundation run by his parents that focuses on education.
Still, the billionaire has yet to make charity a cornerstone of his work, like Microsoft's Bill Gates or Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg have.
Neither has he joined them and 167 other of the world's richest people in pledging to give more than half of their fortunes to charity.
Asked in an interview last year if he one day would rival Mr Gates' magnanimity, Mr Bezos joked, "Well, yeah, if there is anything left after I finish building Blue Origin."
It remains to be seen exactly how Mr Bezos will decide to donate his money.
(With inputs from Reuters)
"I want much of my philanthropic activity to be helping people in the here and now - short term - at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact," Mr Bezos writes on Twitter. "If you have ideas, just reply to this tweet with the idea (and if you think this approach is wrong, would love to hear that too.)"
Take a look at the 5 most popular recommendations as of writing this:
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2. A German politician suggests this interesting experiment:
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4. Fund women's healthcare, suggests this person:
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Mr Bezos has previously invested in longer-term bets like space exploration and kept quieter about other givings.
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Still, the billionaire has yet to make charity a cornerstone of his work, like Microsoft's Bill Gates or Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg have.
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Asked in an interview last year if he one day would rival Mr Gates' magnanimity, Mr Bezos joked, "Well, yeah, if there is anything left after I finish building Blue Origin."
It remains to be seen exactly how Mr Bezos will decide to donate his money.
(With inputs from Reuters)
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