Amazon.com Inc.’s Jeff Bezos has remained largely invisible in the world of philanthropy. That changed last week in a single tweet -- followed by 42,000 more.
The tycoon’s request to Twitter -- asking how he can best use his wealth to help people “right now” -- has set off a frenzy of responses from every corner of the world. They include pleas to support health care, education and loan forgiveness, offbeat appeals to back a leather fetish museum in Chicago, plus snarky demands to reboot favorite TV shows. Even Madonna chimed in, inviting the world’s second-richest man to visit Detroit to engage with charities there.
The unusually public approach bears the stamp of Silicon Valley disruption, and it’s turning heads in a realm that usually enlists consultants and experts to parcel out big-dollar gifts. Seeking ideas on Twitter shows Bezos is acting like a venture capitalist, scouring proposals in the hope of finding a few worthy of investment, says Eileen Heisman, chief executive officer of the National Philanthropic Trust, a charity that manages $4.2 billion on behalf of individual philanthropists.
The crowd-sourcing strategy could signify an expansion of Bezos’s relatively restrained approach to philanthropy. The Bezos Family Foundation, which is best known for its support of children’s education, has been largely funded by his parents from Amazon holdings they acquired as early investors in their son’s enterprise. Outside of that, Bezos and his family’s known donations have totaled about $100 million, including gifts to Princeton University and Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, according to the Chronicle of Philanthropy. That pales in comparison to the billions of dollars donated by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett.
Overwhelming Choices
“Everybody has been watching to see when he would get into the philanthropy game, what he would do and then how he would do it,” said Stacy Palmer, editor of the Chronicle of Philanthropy. “Given what he did with Amazon, I don’t think it surprises anybody that he’s doing it in an untraditional way.”
Bezos amassed an $86 billion fortune while building Amazon into the world’s largest online retailer. Just hours after his tweet, he announced the company’s takeover of organic grocer Whole Foods Market Inc., and he’s been tight-lipped since. He hasn’t yet responded to any suggestions, nor has he indicated publicly how much he intends to donate or when it might start. Amazon and the Bezos Family Foundation didn’t respond to requests for comment.
And while legions on Twitter are eager to help him decide, some of his peers are cautioning against the approach. “The most effective philanthropy is targeted,” said Irish billionaire Denis O’Brien, whose Digicel Foundation is the largest builder of schools in the Caribbean. “He will get thousands of replies, but at the end of the day you do things that are strategic and do things that you are interested in. You could be overwhelmed with choices and ideas.”
Other billionaires are more reticent. “Not for me to tell him what to do with his money,” said Leon Cooperman -- who has pledged to give away the majority of his $2.3 billion fortune -- in response to an email from Bloomberg. Several other wealthy philanthropists contacted for comment didn’t respond or declined to weigh in.
Zuckerberg’s Approach