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Jeff Bezos pictured with his parents, Miguel and Jackie, at the National Portrait Gallery on Dec. 8, 2016, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Molly Riley\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n\t\tJeff Bezos pictured with his parents, Miguel and Jackie, at the National Portrait Gallery on Dec. 8, 2016, in Washington, D.C. Photo by Molly Riley\/AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n
The Bezos Family Foundation, founded by Jeff Bezos<\/a>\u2019 parents, Miguel and Jackie, is committing $100 million to New York City\u2019s Robin Hood Foundation, the city\u2019s largest poverty-fighting nonprofit.\u00a0The funds are part of a Robin Hood campaign to raise $1 billion to support initiatives including emergency food, housing, education, job training, benefits access and legal services. The Bezos family\u2019s donation serves as the campaign\u2019s anchor gift and will establish the Jackie Bezos<\/a> Endowment for Early Childhood at Robin Hood\u2014named in recognition of the Amazon founder\u2019s mother, Jackie,<\/a> who died last year at age 78.<\/p>\n The campaign was unveiled during Robin Hood\u2019s annual benefit on May 11, attended by Jeff Bezos and his wife, Lauren S\u00e1nchez Bezos.<\/a> Other notable donors include Citadel<\/a> CEO Ken Griffin<\/a> and Michael Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n Jeff Bezos was born in Albuquerque, N.M., when Jackie was 17. She later married Miguel, a Cuban immigrant who adopted Jeff. The couple founded the Bezos Family Foundation in 2000\u2014three years after Amazon<\/a> went public\u2014with a mission to invest in learning opportunities for young people. According to its most recent tax filings, the organization distributed $361 million in 2024 and ended the year with $154 million in assets. In addition to grantmaking, it has launched in-house initiatives such as the Bezos Scholars Program and Vroom, a global effort that provides free tools for parents and caregivers.<\/p>\n Jackie was also deeply involved with Robin Hood, serving on the nonprofit\u2019s board of directors for a decade and chairing its Early Childhood Committee. Jeff\u2019s younger brother, Mark, co-founder of investment firm HighPost Capital, joined the board in 2024.<\/p>\n \u201cMy mother saw the innate potential in every child and never stopped working to ensure that potential was met,\u201d said Mark in a statement. \u201cThis gift honors her legacy and makes permanent the work she helped build at Robin Hood.\u201d<\/p>\n Founded in 1988 by hedge-fund billionaire Paul Tudor Jones<\/a>, Robin Hood has invested $3 billion in programs across New York City since its inception. Last year alone, it distributed $140 million to 295 community-based organizations.<\/p>\n New York City\u2019s child care agenda\u00a0<\/p>\n The Jackie Bezos Endowment for Early Childhood will emphasize early childhood investments, particularly interventions for vulnerable youth. This area was a longstanding priority for Jackie, who helped Robin Hood increase its annual early childhood grants from $13 million to $22.8 million during her tenure and played a role in launching its Fund for Early Learning. The Bezos Family Foundation\u2019s $100 million gift also includes a pledge of an additional $25 million, contingent on a match, bringing the potential total to $150 million.<\/p>\n Robin Hood\u2019s emphasis on child-focused funding comes as New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, pursues an ambitious plan to expand free child care programs citywide. The Bezos Family Foundation\u2019s gift, however, is not tied to any specific city initiative, Kevin Thomson, Robin Hood\u2019s chief communications officer, told Observer, adding that it\u2019s too early to know how the funds will be allocated.<\/p>\n Robin Hood currently has around $6 million in active city-directed child care investments. Earlier this year, the nonprofit funded a citywide survey aimed at giving parents a greater role in shaping New York City\u2019s child care policies.<\/p>\n