Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (B&MGF) is the largest transparently-operated On May 11 2006 The Economist reported that the Stichting INGKA Foundation is technically the world's largest charitable foundation while also alleging that the foundation's primary purposes are tax avoidance and anti-takeover protection for the home furnishings retail group IKEA.^* charitable foundation in the world. Founded by Bill Gates, and named after Gates and his wife, Melinda, the aim of the foundation is to provide lifesaving health care products and technology for the poorest parts of the world. The foundation is based in Seattle, Washington and is led by William H. Gates, Sr. (Bill Gates' father) and Patty Stonesifer. As of June 2006, it has an endowment of approximately dollar|US$" target="_blank" >^*29.2 billion http://www.gatesfoundation.org/MediaCenter/FactSheet/.

History

Initially funded by Bill Gates with US$106 million in 2000, during the foundation's first two years, funding grew to US$2 billion. The B&MGF was endowed by Bill Gates, chairman and founder of Microsoft and his wife, Melinda Gates in January 2000 through the merger of the Gates Learning Foundation and the William H. Gates Foundation. On June 15 2006, Gates announced his plans to transition out of a day-to-day role with Microsoft effective July 31 2008, to allow him to devote more time to working with the foundation.

Bill and Melinda Gates, along with the singer Bono, were named by TIME as Persons of the Year 2005 for their charitable work. In the case of Bill and Melinda Gates, the work referenced was that of the B&MGF. On May 4, 2006, the foundation received the Prince of Asturias award for International Cooperation.http://www.gatesfoundation.org/AboutUs/Announcements/Announce-060504.htm

The Warren Buffett donation

On June 25, 2006, Warren Buffett, the world's second richest person after Gates, pledged to give the foundation approximately 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares (worth US$30.7 billion on June 23 2006) spread over multiple years through annual contributions.http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/25/magazines/fortune/charity1.fortune/index.htm Buffett set conditions so that these contributions do not simply increase the foundation's endowment, but effectively work as a matching contribution, doubling the Foundation's annual giving: "Buffett's gift came with three conditions for the Gates foundation: Bill or Melinda Gates must be alive and active in its administration; it must continue to qualify as a charity; and each year it must give away an amount equal to the previous year's Berkshire gift, plus another 5 percent of net assets. Buffett gave the foundation two years to abide by the third requirement." ^* The Gates Foundation will receive 5% (500,000) of the shares in July 2006 and will receive 5% of the remaining earmarked shares in the July of each following year (475,000 in 2007, 451,250 in 2008, and so on).http://money.cnn.com/2006/06/25/magazines/fortune/charity3.fortune/index.htm http://berkshirehathaway.com/donate/bmgfltr.pdf

Activities

The foundation's grants have provided funds for underrepresented minority college scholarships, AIDS prevention, diseases that strike mainly in the Third World, and other causes. The Foundation currently provides 17% (US$86 million in 2006) of the world budget for the attempted eradication of poliomyelitis (polio)http://www.polioeradication.org/content/general/HistContributionWebMay06.pdf. In June 1999, Gates and his wife donated US$5 billion to the foundation. They have donated more than US$100 million to help children suffering from AIDS. On January 26, 2005, it was announced that the Foundation had made a further contribution of US$750 million to the international Vaccine Fund to help fight diseases such as diphtheria, whooping cough, measles, poliomyelitis and yellow fever. The Gates Foundation has quickly become a major influence upon global health; the approximately US$800 million that the foundation gives every year for global health approaches the annual budget of the United Nations' World Health Organization and is comparable to the funds given to fight infectious disease by the United States Agency for International Development.Gates Foundation out to break the cycle of disease, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8 December 2003

As of 2006, the foundation has an endowment of approximately US$26.9 billion. To maintain its status as a charitable foundation, it must donate at least 5% of its assets each year. SaveWealth.com Private Family Foundations Thus the donations from the foundation each year would amount to over US$1 billion at a minimum. After Buffett's donation is accounted for, the charity will be required to give out a minimum of US$2.8 billion each year, which averages out to be about US$90 every second throughout the year.

Donations

The foundation primarily focuses on the following areas:

Global health

The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization:The foundation gave The Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization a donation of US$750 million on 25 January, 2005.

Official site: VaccineAlliance.org, Donation press release

Education

Gates Millennium Scholars:Administered by the United Negro College Fund the foundation donated US$1 billion for minority student scholarships.

Official site: www.gmsp.org

Gates Cambridge Scholarships:Donated US$210 million in October 2000 to help outstanding graduate students outside of the United Kingdom study at the University of Cambridge. Approximately 100 new students every year are funded.

Official site: www.gates.scholarships.cam.ac.uk

University Scholars Program:Donated US$20 million in 1998 to endow a scholarship program at Melinda Gates' alma mater, Duke University. The program provides full scholarships to about 10 members of each undergraduate class and one member in each class in each of the professional schools (Schools of Medicine, Business, Law, Divinity, Environment, and Nursing). The program also pays for a full-time administrator who organizes seminars to bring these scholars together for interdisciplinary discussions as well as the selection process in the Spring.

Libraries

Access to Learning Award:Each year an award of up to US$1 million is given to a public library or similar organization outside the United States that has an innovative program offering the public free access to information technology.

Official site: Part of CLIR.org

Pacific Northwest

Discovery Institute: Donated US$1 million in 2000 to the Discovery Institute and pledged US$9.35 million over 10 years in 2003, including US$50,000 of Bruce Chapman's US$141,000 annual salary. The money of grant is "exclusive to the Cascadia project" on regional transportation, according to a Gates Foundation grant maker and not to the Institute's other activities, including promotion of intelligent design.

Computer History Museum: Donated US$15 million to the museum in October, 2005.

Miscellaneous

Rice Research:Donated US$800,000 to the Philippine Rice Research Institute to develop rice with higher amounts of micronutrients.

Official site: PhilRice.gov.ph

Indian Ocean Earthquake:

The foundation made total grant donations of US$3 million to various charities to help with the aid effort for victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean Earthquake. These charities include:

Pakistan Earthquake:The foundation made a donation of US$500,000 for the 2005 Kashmir earthquake.^*

Criticisms

Some social conservatives criticize the foundation for its support of organizations that promote abortion and contraception, including the International Planned Parenthood Federation, Alan Guttmacher Institute, the United Nations Population Fund and the World Health Organization.Bill and Melinda Gates - People of the Year?, The Conservative Voice, December 22 2005

Others, who may themselves support the same or similar causes as the foundation, but regard Microsoft's business practices as unscrupulous and anticompetitive, question the sincerity of the foundation (regarding it primarily as a way to simultaneously clean up Microsoft's image and avoid taxes), and believe Gates has not done nearly enough to atone for his cutthroat tactics, and can afford to be far more generous than he has been so far. ^*

Notes and references

External links

Official website, including a fact sheet
World's Largest Charitable Foundation from the Guinness World Records website
New York Times, updated news on the Foundation
"The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation- -Can It Change the World?", from About.com
TIME's 2005 "Persons of the Year", Bill & Melinda Gates, and Bono

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation | Bill Gates | Foundations | 2000 establishments

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