New Title at Amazon: Jeff Bezos & the $10 Million MOHAI Grant

True, the $10 million grant isn’t from Amazon, apparently, but from CEO Jeff Bezos. Still, it should do something to stem those stingy-Amazon stories that pop up. And it couldn’t come at a better time: Moves into new buildings can be non-profit killers, as a host of one-time and adjustments to fixed costs come to be “discovered” after the fact.

The Museum of History and Industry, you remember, has been coaxed like a geoduck from its safe harbor down at Montlake, in a paid-for building surrounded by acres of free parking, to become the anchor tenant at Lake Union Park, in the old Armory there. (Last September, Mayor McGinn instigated a brief free-for-all in attempting to Somalia-warlord the money from the State for MOHAI’s building, on the grounds that no one expected MOHAI to get that much for it.)

One of the benefits of the new location, though, is that Amazon’s new offices are just across the street, a factor you’d think played into Bezos’ decision to make the gift. His grant–the largest ever for MOHAI–”will be used to establish the Center for Innovation at the new MOHAI opening in late fall of 2012,” reports the museum in its press release:

Leonard Garfield, MOHAI Executive Director, notes that Bezos’ gift in support of the Center for Innovation aligns perfectly with the museum’s mission and vision to continue telling the story of how Seattle companies like Boeing, Microsoft and, of course, Amazon, have played an innovative role in advancing the lives of billions of people across the planet over the decades. “Jeff is one of the leading visionaries and inventors of our time,” said Garfield. “We are fortunate to have him in our own backyard, helping continue Seattle’s renown for large-scale innovation.”

Note to Jeff: This doesn’t make up for the income tax thing, but good for you.