Jeff Bezos, Lauren Sanchez get and give philanthropy awards
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos and fiancee Lauren Sanchez have been busy recently receiving and doling out philanthropy-related awards.
The engaged couple became the recipients of Conservation International’s "Global Visionary Award" late last week.
It "highlights Bezos’s and Sanchez’s unwavering dedication to addressing the twin crises of climate change and biodiversity loss by preserving Earth’s most critical ecosystems and supporting the local communities that safeguard them," the environment-focused nonprofit said in a press release.
Bezos and Sanchez respectively guide the Bezos Earth Fund, which seeks to make various grants worth $100 million combined before the start of the next decade "to fight climate change and biodiversity loss," as the executive chair and vice chair.
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Conservation International’s presentation of the "Global Visionary Award" to the couple occurred while they attended the organization’s gala dinner in New York City. During the event, they also participated in a discussion about their efforts with actor Harrison Ford.
"Jeff and I are so honored to receive Conservation International’s Global Visionary Award. It’s really a testament to the efforts of so many amazing @BezosEarthFund partners," Sanchez wrote on Instagram. "It wasn’t just fun, but genuinely moving chatting with Harrison about our shared goals for taking care of this planet, inventing a path forward, and giving people reason for optimism about the future."
The Bezos Earth Fund has identified "conserving & restoring nature," "future of food" and "decarbonizing energy & industry" as some of the areas it focuses on.
The amount of funds that the Bezos Earth Fund has doled out since its foundation four years ago totals $2 billion, according to its website. That includes over 230 grants.
Bezos and Sanchez’s receipt of the "Global Visionary Award" came about six weeks after the couple bestowed this year’s "Bezos Courage & Civility Award."
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That award, announced in mid-March, went to two individuals: actress Eva Longoria and retired Navy Admiral Bill McRaven. With the honor, they both got $50 million that they can put toward whatever charity they want.
The award aims to "recognize leaders who aim high and pursue solutions with courage and civility" to "today’s seemingly intractable problems," according to a press release.
Longoria, who created the Eva Longoria Foundation to support Latino education and entrepreneurship, said she was "thrilled to have this opportunity to build and expand on that work to invest in the infrastructure of opportunity for my community."
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The award given to McRaven will "change the lives of countless veterans and their families," the retired Navy admiral said at the time.
Sanchez and Bezos held an event to bestow the 2024 edition of the "Bezos Courage & Civility Award" in Washington, D.C. with many big names in attendance.
Bezos had a personal fortune worth $202.4 billion as of Thursday, according to Forbes.