February 7, 2002 | Read Time: 2 minutes
By Ian Wilhelm
In a cover story on the philanthropy of Bill and Melinda Gates, Newsweek magazine (February 4) reports that the world’s wealthiest man is motivated to give largely by statistics about the problems of developing countries, while his wife is more responsive to problems she has seen in person.
For years, Mr. Gates refused to heed the advice of his parents, who wanted him to spend more time on charitable deeds, the magazine says. But that changed when he read a newspaper article about the disparities in health care among various nations. Mr. Gates then redirected the efforts of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to focus primarily on global health problems, and he himself became deeply involved with the fund’s grant making.
Mr. Gates has set ambitious goals for his foundation, saying he wants to see the health standards of developing countries equal that of wealthy nations. He admitted to Newsweek that he may not be able to see that achievement in his lifetime, but, he says, there will be smaller victories won by his foundation in that time.
The magazine notes that Mr. Gates’s critics say he established the foundation as a way to put a better shine on his image during the federal government’s antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft. But the magazine says that does not seem to be the case, since he has remained committed to his philanthropic work even after the lawsuit has been settled.
Other critics have disparaged Mr. Gates’s approach to philanthropy, which includes treating grant recipients as business partners and auditing their projects. But his approach has produced results, the magazine says, including new technology such as the Uniject, a syringe-like device that cuts down on the risk of infections.
In a companion article, Melinda Gates says she hopes to increase her involvement in the foundation’s work as her children grow older. While she says she has taken a low-key role to protect her privacy and that of her children, she says that if a development occurred that would make her feel that she could “really make a difference,” she would give up her anonymity.
The article is available at http://www.msnbc.com/news/694130.asp.
