Amazon’s owner donating $2B to non-profits

Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos will give $2 billion to non-profits that help homeless families and to create preschools in low-income communities, the billionaire announced today.

The money will be the beginning investment in the Bezos Day One Fund, split into the Day 1 Families Fund and Day 1 Academies Fund.

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“I talk often about the importance of maintaining a Day 1 mentality,” he said. “It’s always Day 1, and I work hard to apply that mindset to everything I do.”

The funds that will offer leadership awards to groups that provide shelter and food to young families, as well as create full-scholarship preschools in under-served communities, is a result of Bezos reaching out on Twitter last year for philanthropy ideas.

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“I’m excited about this because it will give us the opportunity to learn, invent and improve,” Bezos said in the statement. “We’ll use the same principles that have driven Amazon.”

The announcement comes amid Bezos taking fire from people who say Amazon workers are paid unlivable wages, while he is worth at least $150 billion. Those critics have called for Bezos to donate his billions.

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