In 2020, Jeff Bezos made what remains the largest single philanthropic commitment ever to climate and nature: $10 billion, to be fully distributed by 2030 through the Bezos Earth Fund.
But so far the fund has distributed about $2.3 billion of that pledge, leaving roughly $7 billion still to be disbursed before the end of the 2020s. Lauren Sánchez Bezos, who married Bezos last summer, is now setting the pace at the Bezos Earth Fund as vice president, a role she’s held since the organization’s early days when she was just his girlfriend.
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Over the past year, Sánchez Bezos, who is also a New York Times bestselling author, founder, helicopter pilot and Emmy-winning journalist, has become the most visible figure in the couple’s philanthropic efforts.
In September 2025, it announced $37.5 million in grants to support marine protection in 12 Pacific island countries and territories, part of a $100 million commitment to what the fund calls one of the most ambitious ocean conservation efforts ever undertaken.
“The Pacific is not just a beautiful setting, it is a source of life,” she said in a statement. “Pacific island countries and territories are leading the pace. We are here to match that ambition and help turn it into large-scale protection.”
Then, in October, it announced $30 million in phase II awards from the AI Grand Challenge for Climate and Nature, a program that provides up to $100 million for artificial intelligence-driven environmental solutions.
“AI can be a powerful ally in helping to make the world a better place,” he said in a statement. “These innovators, using AI, are showing us new possibilities by reinventing the way we produce food, protect wildlife and generate energy for the planet, making a real impact.”
In addition to environmental philanthropic donations, Sánchez Bezos announced in December a $102.5 million commitment to organizations combating homelessness in the United States.
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This commitment is part of the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, which has donated more than $850 million to organizations in all 50 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and Guam. Founded in 2018, the Day 1 Families Fund made a $2 billion commitment to support existing nonprofits that help families experiencing homelessness and to build and operate a network of new free preschools in under-resourced communities.
“This is just the beginning,” Sánchez Bezos told Good Morning America. “It’s a $2 billion commitment, and we’re going to keep doing it.”
Weeks later, the couple awarded a $5 million grant and the Bezos Courage & Civility Award to David Flink, founder of the Neurodiversity Alliance — a cause with a strong personal connection to Sánchez Bezos, who grew up with undiagnosed dyslexia and has said his children’s book was written for “the 8-year-old me who was told I wasn’t smart.”
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From food systems to nuclear energy, a $10 billion bet takes shape
The fund’s portfolio is broad, including $1 billion aimed at transforming food and agricultural systems; $100 million awarded to the World Wildlife Fund for nature-based climate solutions; $110 million for habitat restoration and climate science; and a recent $4.8 million partnership with the Earthshot Prize to fund 48 global climate innovation projects.
In February, the fund announced a $3.5 million grant to accelerate the implementation of nuclear energy.
But the fund is also in transition. In July 2025, Bezos named Tom Taylor, the former head of Amazon’s Alexa division, as the new CEO, replacing Andrew Steer, the former leader of an environmental think tank who had led the organization since 2021. The hire signaled a shift toward operational execution as the 2030 disbursement deadline approaches.
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US$4.7 billion in a lifetime versus US$7.2 billion in one year
Even with $10 billion committed to climate, the scale of the Bezos’ donations appears modest relative to their fortune.
Bezos’ net worth is currently estimated at $268 billion, making him the third richest man in the world, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. But Forbes estimates that the couple’s lifetime philanthropic contributions total around $4.7 billion, less than 2% of Bezos’ wealth.
Meanwhile, Bezos’ ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott, has been giving at a rapid pace over the past five years, giving a staggering $26 billion to thousands of organizations.
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His current net worth is estimated at $42.1 billion. This means she has already donated well over half of her fortune to philanthropic causes, although her wealth continues to grow despite the massive donations, thanks to the rise in value of Amazon shares.
Another way to observe is that, in 2025 alone, Scott donated US$7.2 billion, an amount that exceeds the entire volume of Bezos’ lifetime donations. Scott also signed the Giving Pledge, a commitment launched by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates and Warren Buffett in 2010, which encourages billionaires to donate the majority of their fortunes to philanthropic causes.
Bezos did not sign. In a 2022 CNN interview, he stated that he intends to give away most of his wealth during his lifetime, but acknowledged the difficulty of doing so effectively. He even compared the difficulty of philanthropy to that of building Amazon, the number 1 company in the Fortune 500.
“It’s not easy. Building Amazon wasn’t easy,” Bezos told CNN. “It required a lot of hard work, an extremely smart and dedicated team, and I’m realizing that charity, philanthropy, is very similar.”
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