Bezos Day 1 Families Fund Award
Associated Ministries to Expand Support for Tacoma/Pierce County Families Experiencing Homelessness with $2.5 Million Grant from Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos
32 organizations across the U.S. receive a total of $102.5 million from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund to connect families with housing and hope
TACOMA, Wash. – (December 1, 2025): Associated Ministries, an organization working for 56 years to mobilize our community to address urgent needs, today announced that Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos are recognizing the organization with a $2.5 million grant from the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund. This investment is the largest gift in the nonprofit’s history. Associated Ministries is part of the eighth annual cohort of organizations across the country receiving funding from the Day 1 Families Fund to deepen their work to help every family have a safe, stable place to call home.
“We are thrilled to have been entrusted with this transformational investment,” said Michael Yoder, executive director of Associated Ministries. “This funding provides an unprecedented opportunity for us to greatly accelerate our ability to respond to the needs of unsheltered families in innovative new ways.”
Associated Ministries (AM) will use its Day 1 Families Fund grant to serve even more families experiencing homelessness in Tacoma/Pierce County, with the goal of ensuring no child in our community sleeps outside. Specifically, AM plans to use this one-time grant over the next five years to catalyze their long-time commitment to continually innovate access to and responsiveness of systems that address homelessness. AM has a proven track record of leveraging one-time funding to launch lasting solutions.
AM was identified to receive this grant by a group of national advisors who are leading advocates and bring expertise on homelessness, housing policy and effective approaches and solutions to family homelessness.
Since its inception in 2018, the Day 1 Families Fund has awarded 280 grants totaling more than $850 million to organizations serving families in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and Guam. The Day 1 Families Fund grant recipients have tremendous flexibility to use the funds in the ways that are most impactful in their communities, making the grant a game-changer for organizations on the frontlines of the family homelessness crisis. Recipients will use their funds to support families experiencing homelessness to access critical services, regain stable housing and achieve well-being.
This year, the Fund issued a total of $102.5 million in grants to 32 organizations. The full list of awardees is available at https://bezosdayonefund.org/day1familiesfund. Case studies of the impact selected grantees have made with their funds are available at https://www.bezosdayonefund.org/case-studies.
About Associated Ministries
Since 1969 Associated Ministries has had an historic leadership position working at a grassroots level in Pierce County, WA, mobilizing people of faith and good will to unite in service to vulnerable populations, including people experiencing homelessness, hunger and poverty, as well as the elderly and disabled. Our vision is for a deeply engaged community to bring about transformation so that all can thrive. Our programs endeavor to effectively walk alongside those who come to us for services as they emerge out of crisis, find paths out of poverty into personal stability, and aspire to build a foundation of skills, social connections and financial assets.
About the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund
Through the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund, Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sánchez Bezos issue annual leadership awards to organizations doing compassionate, needle-moving work to help families experiencing homelessness. For more information, visit www.BezosDayOneFund.org/Day1FamiliesFund.
Contact
Michael Yoder
253-426-1502
michaely@associatedministries.org