At the Vatican, Bezos and chef José Andrés are presented with the “Prophets of Philanthropy” honor.
Chef José Andrés and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, were both recognized for their philanthropy this week at the Vatican.
The Galileo Foundation, a non-profit that aids in the activities of the Catholic Church and Pope Francis, gave Bezos and Andrés the first Prophets of Philanthropy award.
Bezos, whose net fortune is now estimated at $138 billion by Forbes, has concentrated his charitable efforts on three key issues: homelessness, early childhood education, and climate change. He pledged to invest $10 billion by 2030 to assist address the climate crisis in 2021.
Bezos accepted the honor as MacKenzie Scott, his ex-wife, continued to grab attention for a charitable giving drive she initiated after the couple divorced in 2019. Since the divorce, Scott has distributed more than $12 billion.
Although she doesn’t typically make her donations public, the groups that get her money occasionally do. Just in recent weeks, Scott gave $15 million to VisionSpring, an organization that gives spectacles to farmers and workers in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa. She also announced $20 million in donations to the Fresno Unified Education Foundation in California and a $84.5 million grant to the Girl Scouts of the USA.
The creator of World Central Kitchen is Andrés, a chef who has launched a number of popular eateries, including two with Michelin stars. The charity provides meals to those who are going through severe suffering, such as those who are recovering from natural catastrophes or enduring war.
Bezos stated in his speech that the organization has recently worked to feed people in Ukraine as Russia’s invasion of the nation continues, collaborating with Ukrainian cooks to distribute more than 1 million meals daily.
Andrés was not immediately available for comment. Bezos’s representatives cited the Galileo Foundation’s notification of the occasion. The award was revealed via an Instagram post from the Bezos Earth Fund.
The last time Bezos and Andrés shared the stage during an awards ceremony, Bezos was presenting Andrés with a prize. Both Andrés and racial justice campaigner Van Jones received “Courage and Civility Awards” from Bezos, who also granted each honoree $100 million to use for charity causes of their choice.
At an interfaith gathering with 145 philanthropists from five different religions, the Prophets of Philanthropy award was presented. In his remarks, Bezos brought up his family’s ties to the Catholic Church, noting that the church welcomed his father when he came to the United States from Cuba as a young man without any knowledge of the language.
According to estimates from Forbes, Bezos has not donated as much of his wealth as some other billionaires. Bezos received a 2, the second-worst ranking, in the magazine’s most recent Philanthropy Score because he has donated between 1% and 4.99% of his wealth.
The reason Scott achieved the highest rating, a 5, is that she is one of the billionaires who has donated at least 20% of their wealth. Her estimated $34 billion fortune is primarily made up of shares of Amazon (AMZN) that she obtained as part of her divorce from Bezos.
Any estimations of a person’s charitable giving, though, must be taken with a grain of salt. Accurately tracking a donor’s giving might be challenging. Donors can easily choose to remain anonymous if they so choose, and charitable organizations aren’t always compelled to disclose their funders.
