Bezos Day One Fund

Jeff Bezos announced the Bezos Day One Fund on Twitter. Funded by him and his wife MacKenzie with an initial $2 billion commitment, it comprised the Day 1 Families Fund, to make yearly grants to groups providing shelter and food to young families in need, and the Day 1 Academies Fund, to run a network of preschools in underserved communities.⁠[1]

Bezos wrote that the fund would use the principles that have driven Amazon and that in the preschools “The child will be the customer.”⁠[1]

The name “Day One” comes from Bezos’s Amazon mantra that it is “always Day One.”⁠[2]

The first grants, totaling $97.5 million, went to 24 organizations helping homeless people in 16 states and the District of Columbia; Catholic Charities of the Archdiocese of Miami and The Salvation Army of Greater Houston each received $5 million.⁠[3]

Recipients also included the Urban Resource Institute in New York ($5 million), the District Alliance for Safe Housing in Washington, D.C. ($2.5 million), and the Primo Center for Women and Children in Chicago ($2.5 million).⁠[4]

The list came as Amazon had just split its second headquarters between Crystal City, Virginia, and Queens, New York; incoming Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez criticized the move, writing “Displacement is not community development.”⁠[4]

The second round, totaling $98.5 million, went to 32 organizations in 23 states, with individual grants ranging from $1.25 million to $5.25 million; at the time the fund had shared little about its preschool plans.⁠[2]

Bezos announced that the first Montessori-inspired preschool, run by the nonprofit Bezos Academy, would open for in-person classes on October 19 in Des Moines, Washington, serving about a dozen children aged 3 to 5 free of charge; an Amazon spokesperson declined to say how many schools were planned.⁠[5]

The classroom was located at the Wesley Homes retirement community. Children had to be 3 or 4 by September 1, 2020, with household income below 400% of the federal poverty level, and half the seats were reserved for families below 250%; Bezos called it “the first of many free preschools.”⁠[6]

The third round of $105.9 million went to 42 organizations in 24 states, with grants from $450,000 to $5 million; Catholic Charities of Acadiana in Lafayette and HELP of Southern Nevada in Las Vegas each received $5 million, and the Anchorage Coalition to End Homelessness $450,000.⁠[7]

Time for Change Foundation in California received a $1.25 million 2020 Day 1 Families Leadership Award; the organization said it was invited to submit a grant proposal after the fund and its advisory group of homelessness advocates and experts recognized its progress.⁠[8]

The fourth round awarded $96.2 million to 32 organizations, including $5 million each to Building Changes and Africatown International in Seattle; since 2018 the fund had given $398 million to organizations in 38 states.⁠[9]

Philanthropy experts praised Bezos for focusing on homelessness, a cause wealthy donors often neglect, and for funding existing efforts; on the other hand, Amazon had clashed with Seattle over taxes meant to fund affordable housing, and little had been said publicly about the schools program.⁠[9]

Early in the year Bezos Academy ran five preschools in Washington state (the first opened in October 2020 in Des Moines) with about 130 children enrolled; it then announced schools on Dallas College’s Mountain View and Cedar Valley campuses and, with the housing nonprofit Ability Housing, one opening in the fall in Orlando, Florida.⁠[10]

Head of education Mike Abello said sites were chosen using Census and state data to find communities where low-income preschool-aged children clearly outnumber available early learning seats.⁠[10]

On February 1, 2022, Florida Atlantic University announced a six-classroom Bezos Academy next to A.D. Henderson University School on its Boca Raton campus for children aged 3 to 5 from low-income families, slated to open in the fall with all operating costs covered by Bezos Academy, then led by president Mike George.⁠[11]

That year the Day 1 Families Fund awarded $123.45 million to 40 organizations in 26 states and Puerto Rico.⁠[12]

The sixth round of about $117 million went to organizations in 23 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico, including $5 million each for Catholic Community Services of Western Washington and Council for the Homeless in Vancouver, Washington; total awards rose to $639 million.⁠[13]

In 2024, 40 organizations serving homeless families in 23 states received $110.5 million.⁠[12]

The eighth annual leadership awards went to 32 organizations in 20 states, the District of Columbia, and Guam, with immediate donations totaling $102.5 million: 13 received $5 million, 11 received $2.5 million, and 8 received $1.25 million; recipients included Mary’s Place in Seattle and WestCare Pacific Islands in Guam.⁠[14]

The fund thanked 13 advisors, including representatives of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, for their input in selecting grantees.⁠[14]

Drawing on about two-thirds of its 2020–2023 grantees, the fund said they helped over 32,000 unsheltered families find safe places to stay, quickly reconnected over 34,000 families to stable housing, and helped over 79,000 families access services.⁠[15]

Community of Hope in Washington, D.C., was among the first 2018 awardees with $5 million and received another $3.75 million in 2023; it said the grants helped connect 1,086 unsheltered families with safe places to stay.⁠[16]

Mary’s Place used its 2020 grant of $5 million to expand diversion and landlord partnerships, helping 2,668 families secure stable housing over five years; its 2025 grant was planned for an outreach pilot and 200 shelter beds with wraparound services.⁠[17]

The Day 1 Families Fund’s vision, borrowed from Mary’s Place, is “no child sleeps outside.” Since 2018 it has issued 280 leadership awards totaling more than $850 million across all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and Guam.⁠[12]

The Day 1 Academies Fund directly operates a network of tuition-free, Montessori-inspired preschools offering year-round programming five days a week for children 3 to 5, with admissions prioritizing low-income families, guided by the principle “The child is the customer.”⁠[18]

The schools operate as Bezos Academy, whose legal name is Day 1 Academies; Jeff Bezos is the founder, Miguel Roque the president, and Mike George chairman of the board.⁠[19]

Bezos Academy lists 38 school locations: 12 in Texas, 9 in Washington, 7 in Florida, 5 in Arizona, 4 in Kentucky, and 1 in Hawaii (Lahaina).⁠[20]

The schools provide full-day programs with breakfast, lunch, and a snack, an adult-to-child ratio of at least 1 to 10, and typically no more than 20 children per classroom; families pay nothing, including no co-payment for those receiving child care subsidies.⁠[21]

Costs are covered through fully supported scholarships and public funding.⁠[22]

Bezos Day One Fund: Official website: https://www.bezosdayonefund.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[14]

Bezos Academy: Official website: https://www.bezosacademy.org/ (opens in a new window)⁠[22]