Jeff Bezos seeks spending advice from Twitter followers

As reported on VentureBeat, Bezos, the Amazon boss worth $84.5bn at the time of writing, reached out to his 242,000 Twitter followers on Thursday 15 June for financial counsel.

He claimed that a “long term philanthropy strategy” is something he tends to focus on, with Amazon and his other businesses, newspaper Washington Post and aerospace firm Blue Origin, “contributing to society and civilisation in their own ways”.

As a result, he told his Twitter followers that he wants to concentrate philanthropic activity on short term too. “I’m thinking I want much of my philanthropic activity to be helping people in the here and now – short term – at the intersection of urgent need and lasting impact,” Bezos said.

Of course, Mark Zuckerberg, a fellow member of the billionaire boys’ club alongside Bezos, launched the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative back in December 2015 with his wife Priscilla and promised to donate their $45bn fortune.

Additionally, Bill Gates, the richest man in the world, has guzzled water made from waste as part of his philanthropic movement.

All Bezos’ Twitter followers had to do to offer their ideas was reply to his tweet – and reply they did.

Request for ideas… pic.twitter.com/j6D68mhseL

— Jeff Bezos (@JeffBezos) June 15, 2017

One facetious response saw someone say: “I could need some money and I would consider it very philanthropic. And I guess everybody else would, too.”

However, some of the more serious suggestions saw Twitter followers putting forward everything from school lunch support, education enhancements, LGBT care and more.

These things are mostly fought by small and sometimes local charities, and they never have the funding they need to make a big impact

— Tom Coates (@tomcoates) June 15, 2017

Including @amazon are struggling to find the diverse skilled workforce they need. We need a new college that provides high quality education

— Sylvain Kalache (@SylvainKalache) June 15, 2017

@JeffBezos, let’s do this.

— Jake Wood (@JakeWoodTR) June 15, 2017

Meanwhile, another of Bezos’ Twitter followers suggested that providing free access to Amazon tools in developing markets such as Africa would be a massive help.

Seriously, African innovations can bring a lot of Africans out of poverty. Free AWS accounts for 3 years for most African startups will help

— Victor Asemota (@asemota) June 15, 2017

Someone else noted how detrimental student loans can be and that wiping them would create instant impact in line with Bezos plan for short term, here and now support.

Help pay off student loans. They keep so many from raising their credit score: getting a better job, buying a home or car. Instant impact.

— April (@ReignOfApril) June 16, 2017

Of course, if he still isn’t satisfied with the feedback from his Twitter followers, he can always seek inspiration from our Philanthropic 30 – a ranking of the most caring companies in the UK.

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