Jeff Bezos made the largest charitable donation of 2020

Silver Spring, Maryland– Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon and the richest man in the world, made the largest charitable donation in 2020, a $ 10 billion donation to help combat climate change, according to a report in a publication.

Bezos, whose personal value amounts to about $ 188 billion according to Forbes magazine, has made a huge contribution to the launch of the Bezos Earth Fund, the Philanthropy Chronicle reported.

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

Regardless of Bezos’ huge contribution, last year’s total of the 10 largest charitable donations – $ 2.6 billion – was the lowest since 2011, despite the fact that many billionaires increased their wealth due to market growth. which benefited especially the technology sector last year. According to the American group for Tax Equity and the Institute for Policy Studies, between March 18 and December 7, Bezos’ wealth increased by 63%, from $ 113 billion to $ 184 billion.

Phil Knight, who along with his wife Penny were the authors of the second and third major donations according to the Chronicle, increased his fortune 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 set up 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 Technical and Civic Life, which helped oversee security in the November election . Zuckerberg’s wealth nearly doubled to $ 105 billion between March and December, according to the Americans for Tax Fairness and the Institute for Political Studies.

Fifth is Arthur Blank, co-founder of Home Depot, who donated $ 200 million through his Atlanta Foundation for Child Care to build a new hospital.

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

Then, 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, the Chronicle will publish its list of the top 50 donors, which takes into account total donations and not individual contributions.