Photo Credit: Eva Rinaldi / CC by 2.0
Jeff Bezos is giving Dolly Parton $100 million to distribute to various charitable causes.
“We’ve just announced a new Courage and Civility award recipient–Dolly Parton,” reads the official announcement on Twitter. “Dolly Parton leads with her heart and will put this $100 million award to great use, helping so many people. Congrats, Dolly!” In response to the announcement, the singer replied, “I try to put my money where my heart is. I will do my best to do good things with this money. Thank you, Jeff Bezos,” she added.
Some of Dolly Parton’s ongoing charitable projects include her Imagination Library. It’s a literacy effort Parton started for young children in five countries, partly because her own father was illiterate. Jeff Bezos says he plans to give away the bulk of his $124 billion fortune to charitable causes during his lifetime.
“We have big problems in the world, and the way to get big problems done is to work together,” the billionaire said in an interview with CNN. Bezos is currently listed as the fourth richest person in the world according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Last November, Bezos gave $100 million to former President Barack Obama’s private foundation.
During the interview with CNN, Bezos said his focus on philanthropy will be on those who unify rather than divide. “One of the things that I don’t like about the current environment is that I think there is a lot of division,” Bezos says. “I think that people use conflict as a tool to achieve their own ends. I don’t think that’s a good tool,” he adds.
Dolly Parton is the third recipient of his Courage and Civility Award. Last year’s recipient was Spanish chef José Andrés, who runs the World Central Kitchen. The organization provides free meals during front-line crises like the ongoing war in Ukraine.