Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was created in 2000 by Bill Gates and Melinda Gates to help reduce the inequities in the United States and other parts of the globe. The core of the foundation’s work is based on two values. All lives, no matter where they are being led, have equal value; and much is expected from those who are given a lot. It is his belief in these two values that led the world’s richest man Bill Gates to start this foundation with his wife Melinda.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is the largest transparently operated charitable foundation in the world. It was doubled in size in the year 2006 by Warren Buffet. The primary aims of the foundation are to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology in the United States and to improve healthcare and lessen extreme poverty globally. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation is based in Seattle, Washington, and is controlled by its trustees: Bill Gates, Melinda Gates and Warren Buffet. The principal officers include Co- Chair William H. Gates, Sr. and Chief Executive Officer, Patty Stonesifer. It has a donation of approximately US $34.6 billion. Warren Buffett, the world’s third richest person after Gates pledged in 2006 to give the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 10 million Berkshire Hathaway Class B shares which were then worth US $30.7 billion over a period of many years through annual contributions. Warren put three conditions on the gift. First being that Bill and
Melinda must be alive and active in its administration second it must continue to qualify as a charity and third each year it must give away an amount equal to the previous year’s Berkshire gift, plus another 5 percent of net assets.
The Foundation does not pretend to have come up with the process of disbursement of donations to deserving charities on its own. They insist that they have borrowed from other organizations that have been making grants much longer than them. The Foundation is driven by the interests and zeal of the Gates Family. Compassion, generosity and benevolence play an important but limited role. The foundation believes that the lives of people around the world can be improved by science and technology. The fund is basically relies on others to act and implement its initiatives. The foundation treats its grantees as valued partners and treats the ultimate beneficiaries of its work with respect.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation operates on three grant making areas: global development program, global health program, and United States program. Besides this, they also have a small charitable sector support initiative. It employs 457 employees and its total grant commitments since inception is $14.4 billion. In 2006 alone the Foundation has made grant payments worth $1.56 billion. Through its partnerships in communities all over the United States, the foundation is raising the high school graduation rate and is helping all students regardless of their race or family income to graduate. The foundation’s initiatives also work to provide children with opportunities for quality early learning.
Billionaires are generally people who stay nestled atop their fantastic wealth in fancy $100 million houses, sipping their champagne and eating caviar. The few like Bill and Warren who have decided to make it their mission to save the world make it possible even in this day and age to believe in the innate goodness of humans.
