# Amazon’s Jeff Bezos announces $2 billion philanthropic fund

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2018/09/20/amazons-jeff-bezos-announces-2bn-philanthropic-fund/
- Published: 2018-09-20T07:40:21+01:00
- Author: Melanie May

**Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has announced a $2 billion fund to help homeless families
and create preschools in low-income communities, after he asked for suggestions 
on approaches to philanthropy last year.**

According to a statement issued by Bezos on 13 September, the Bezos Day One Fund
will begin with a commitment of $2 billion and focus on two areas: funding existing
non-profits that help homeless families, and creating a network of new, non-profit
preschools in low-income communities.

The Day 1 Families Fund will issue annual leadership awards to organisations and
civic groups working to provide shelter and hunger support to address the immediate
needs of young families, while The Day 1 Academies Fund will launch and operate 
a network of Montessori-inspired preschools in underserved communities.

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In his statement, Bezos says he will build an organisation to manage the preschools,
using the same principles that have driven Amazon:

> “We will build an organisation to directly operate these preschools. I’m excited
> about that because it will give us the opportunity to learn, invent and improve.
> We will use the same set of principles that have driven Amazon.  The most important
> among those will be genuine, intense, customer obsession. The child will be the
> customer. 
> “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
> And lighting that fire early is a giant leg up for any child.”

> [pic.twitter.com/2GlgjztK1u](https://t.co/2GlgjztK1u)
> — Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) [September 13, 2018](https://twitter.com/JeffBezos/status/1040253796293795842?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw)

 The fund is named after Bezos’s Day 1 philosophy. According to Bezos, companies
should always retain the Day 1 mentality, which means keeping the drive and focus
of a start up: concentrating on pleasing the customer, on results rather than process,
and being fast to make decisions and embrace trends. 

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