Jeff Bezos has paid just $15.5 million of his $100 million pledge to help rebuild Maui in the wake of last year’s devastating wildfires.
In the wake of the devastation of Lahaina, which left more than 100 people dead, last August the Amazon tycoon and his fiancé pledged $100 million to help with the recovery of the area.
The couple pledged the money in an Instagram post at the time, stating that the money will ‘help Maui get back on its feet now and over the coming years.’
However, local officials have said they are not clear on where the money is being sent.
‘Nobody’s heard anything at all,’ Angus McKelvey, the state senator representing West Maui, told Bloomberg.
In the wake of the devastation of Lahaina last August Bezos and his fiancé pledged $100 million to help with the recovery of the area
The devastating wildfires last August killed around 100 people and left many more injured and homeless
‘Had they simply consulted with the community and myself and other representatives, we would’ve told them, “Take your money and put it over here”‘ McKelvey added.
‘The immediate needs are important, and so is the longer term rebuilding that will have to happen – even after much of the attention has subsided’ the couple wrote in the August post.
‘Jeff and I are creating a Maui Fund and are dedicating $100 million to help Maui get back on its feet now and over the coming years as the continuing needs reveal themselves.’
A spokesperson for the couple, who own a $78 million 14-acre Hawaiian estate on La Perouse Bay, confirmed to DailyMail.com that $15.5 million of the pledge has been fulfilled and that the rest would follow in future, though a specific timeline was not given.
‘As the original announcement made clear, the $100 million will be gifted over the coming years as the continuing needs reveal themselves’ the spokesperson said.
‘So far $15.5 million of the $100 million has been gifted.’
A source close to the couple said funds had been given to Boys and Girls Clubs of Maui, Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization, Lele Aloha and the Maui Food Bank.
‘We’ve announced the funding of a tuition-free preschool in Lahaina. That’s funded by the Bezos Day One fund rather than the Maui Fund’ the spokesperson added.
‘Jeff and I are creating a Maui Fund and are dedicating $100 million to help Maui get back on its feet now’ Sanchez wrote at the time
A spokesperson for the couple confirmed to DailyMail.com that $15.5 million of the pledge has been fulfilled
In the past Bezos has made vague statements about large charitable donations including saying he will give away most of his $124billion fortune to charities fighting climate change in 2022.
The tycoon did not give specific details about the charities he will donate to or how much he will give or when.
Sitting alongside his partner Lauren Sanchez, the businessman told CNN said they are ‘building the capacity to be able to give away this money’.
Bezos said: ‘The hard part is figuring out how to do it in a levered way. It’s not easy, building Amazon was not easy.
‘It took a lot of hard work, a bunch of very smart teammates and I’m finding that philanthropy is very similar – it’s not easy it’s very hard.
‘We are building the capacity to being able to give away this money. There are a bunch of ways that I think you could do ineffective things, too.
‘So you have to think about it carefully and you have to have brilliant people on the team.’
He has refrained from setting a target amount to give away in his lifetime and has committed $10billion over 10 years – about 8 per cent of his current net worth – to the Bezos Earth Fund.