Jeff Bezos and his fiancée Lauren Sanchez have pledged $100 million to help rebuild Maui after the devastating wildfires in August. However, despite giving $15.5 million over the past five months through the Bezos Maui Fund, the recipients of the funds remain undisclosed.
This lack of transparency is not a new trend for Bezos, who has a history of making grand philanthropic pledges with minimal details. From his $10 billion climate pledge to large gifts to friends and a vague commitment to give away the majority of his wealth, Bezos has often provided little more than a dollar figure and subject area.
While it’s not uncommon for billionaires to be secretive about their charitable giving, Bezos, as the world’s second-richest person, has drawn attention due to the contrasting approach of his ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott. Since their divorce in 2019, Scott has donated over $16.5 billion and regularly discloses the recipients of her donations on her website.
Bezos, on the other hand, has donated over $3 billion during the same period, significantly less than what he has pledged to give away with minimal immediate details.
According to Benjamin Soskis, a senior research associate at the Urban Institute’s Center on Nonprofits and Philanthropy, Bezos’ approach offers ‘maximum publicity with minimum accountability.’ While donors are not legally obligated to disclose the recipients of their donations, Soskis argues that Bezos has reaped the benefits of public attention and should provide more information in return.
Responding to inquiries about the remaining $84.5 million pledged to help Maui, Bezos’ spokesperson stated that it will be distributed in the coming years as the ongoing needs become apparent.
This pattern of vagueness has been consistent in Bezos’ recent philanthropic endeavors. In 2020, he pledged $10 billion to combat climate change, yet provided little information on the allocation of the funds or the timeline for distribution. It took nine months to make the first gifts, and as of now, the Bezos Earth Fund has granted $1.84 billion.
