Ka-ching!
Former President Barack Obama just cashed in big thanks to one of the world’s richest men: Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.
Obama’s foundation announced Monday that it has received a $100 million donation from Bezos, which it says is the largest individual contribution it has ever received.
The Obama Foundation said in a statement that the money from Bezos is intended “to help expand the scope of programming that reaches emerging leaders” in the United States and around the world.
The donation, it said, was also given in honor of John Lewis, the civil rights icon and longtime Democratic Party leader who died last year. In exchange for the gift, the foundation said Bezos has asked for the plaza at the controversial multi-million dollar Obama Presidential Center, under construction in Chicago’s South Side, to be named after Lewis.
Valerie Jarrett, a former senior adviser to Obama who serves as the foundation’s CEO, said in a statement that the foundation was “thrilled” by that idea.
Despite the controversy and lawsuits, the construction on Obama’s Chicago project is expected to be completed by 2025. The final cost is expected to be about $830 million — an estimated $274 million of that came from the pocket of taxpayers.
In the meantime, the foundation said it’s accepting more donations in exchange for naming opportunities — they said to “honor and the names of those who have fought for a more just and equitable world.”
Since stepping down as CEO of Amazon this year, Bezos has begun to focus more of his attention on philanthropy.
Last year, Bezos committed to spend $10 billion by 2030 to enhance climate change efforts through his Bezos Earth Fund. In recent months, he has released some details on how he plans to spend that money.
Bezos, whose personal wealth is estimated by Forbes at roughly $212 billion, had long been questioned about the relatively modest level of his charitable giving and reluctance to sign The Giving Pledge. The pledge, developed by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett, is intended to persuade the world’s wealthiest to donate more than half their worth to philanthropic organizations.
MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, boasts a fortune estimated at $61 billion, and she has signed the pledge. Scott has made a splash in the philanthropy world over the past 17 months by donating $8.7 billion — without any strings attached — to numerous nonprofits across the country.
2018 FLASHBACK: Obama demands $274 million from taxpayers — A breakdown
The Associated Press contributed to this article