Gates Foundation

William Henry “Bill” Gates III is chairman of Microsoft Corporation, the software company he founded with Paul Allen. He is one of the best-known entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. Although well known as a business magnate and entrepreneur, he is best known for his philanthropic endeavors, donating large amounts of money to charitable organizations and scientific research programs. He has given most of his money to support global health initiatives and the improvement of learning opportunities, such as the Gates Library Initiative, which provided computers and Internet access to public libraries in low-income communities.

Before creating the Foundation, Gates studied the philanthropic work of Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. The structure of the Foundation has been greatly influenced by David Rockefeller and the Rockefeller family's philanthropic focus of investing in global problems that are ignored by governments and other organizations.

In 1994, Bill Gates sold some of his Microsoft stock to create the William H. Gates Foundation. The William H. Gates Foundation was then merged with the Gates Learning Foundation to create the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation in 2000, with an endowment of approximately $30 billion. It has been calculated that Bill Gates had donated more than $100 billion to charities through his Foundation. The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest charitable Foundation in the world and is set up to allow benefactors access to how the money is being spent, unlike other charitable organizations. In fact, the Foundation awards more money per year than the United Nations Educational, Scientific, [Page 399]and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The Gates Foundation has focused much of its attention and half of its resources on global health, supporting the development, testing, and delivery of vaccines for diseases such as malaria, tuberculosis, and acute diarrhea that kill millions of people every year in developing countries. The Foundation is on track to outpace the U.S. government in funding for malaria research. In addition, the Foundation is both pushing to discover a preventive AIDS vaccine and to deliver antiretrovirals to people already afflicted with the disease.

The bulk of the remaining money is spent on education initiatives, including upgrading technology access in schools and public libraries and improving high schools. As a result of the Foundation's early giving efforts, 99% of U.S. libraries have free online access. The Foundation has invested nearly $4 billion to improve high schools and provide scholarships to over 16,000 students through the Gates Millennium Scholarship Program. The Foundation has started over 900 new high schools and “redesigned” an additional 700 schools. These new and redesigned high schools have reached almost 800,000 students in 45 states. A particular focus for the Foundation is to raise the high school graduation rate and college readiness rate for African American, Hispanic, and low-income students. Working with advocacy partners, the Foundation has raised awareness of the dropout problem and encouraged states to increase high school course requirements and academic standards. The Foundation has a variety of grant recipients, from the New York City schools to the NewSchools Venture Fund that mobilizes entrepreneurs to work toward reform in U.S. public schools. In 2002, the NewSchools created a $47 million fund to ensure the continuance of charter schools. All educational grants must address what the Foundation calls the “new 3Rs”: rigorous instruction; a relevant curriculum; and meaningful, supportive relationships. Funding for the high school grants is made through a letter of inquiry by invitation only. Unlike many foundations, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation does not accept unsolicited proposals.

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