Bezos Family Pledges $500 Million to UNICEF USA Child Nutrition Fund
Yesterday, we blogged about the Rockefeller Foundation‘s $100 million commitment to global child nutrition efforts. Hot on the heels of that announcement comes today’s report in Philanthropy News Digest that UNICEF has announced a pledge totaling $500 million from Jacklyn and Miguel Bezos, in support of UNICEF USA’s Child Nutrition Fund (CNF).
Like the Rockefeller Foundation’s commitment, the Bezos’ pledge was announced at the recently concluded Nutrition for Growth summit in Paris. This latest commitment from the couple includes a $250 million one-to-one challenge that builds on their original matching gift of the same amount, made in September 2024. The couple, who lead the Bezos Family Foundation, pledged to match gifts to CNF up to $500 million.
The Digest illuminates us about the work of CNF:
Led by UNICEF, CNF was established in 2023 to bolster nutrition programs in 63 priority countries, primarily in Africa and Asia, and help build resilient and sustainable national nutrition systems. During the summit, philanthropic organizations pledged to raise more than $2 billion in the coming years to combat malnutrition. Currently, the World Bank estimates that an additional $13 billion per year over the next 10 years is needed to scale nutrition interventions to address undernutrition globally.
Commenting on the couple’s gift, Miguel Bezos had this to say:
The need is so great that no one alone can meet the urgent nutrition needs of the world’s women and kids. But we want to accelerate the change and invite others to join us in donating to the CNF. We will match each dollar donated to the CNF up to $500 million. “The need is now. But we have the solutions now too. In the CNF, we have the tools to meaningfully improve the nutrition and lives of women and children globally. We just need to band together to do it immediately.
As I said yesterday when I commented about the commitment by the Rockefeller Foundation, this is very good news. There is some good left in this world of ours.
Vaughn E. James