November 4, 1999 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Melinda Gates and her husband, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, are taking a “decidedly different” approach to philanthropy than are another wealthy couple, corporate investor Warren Buffett and his wife, Susan, Business Week magazine says in a pair of stories (October 25).
Mrs. Gates and her husband have one “overriding goal” for their $17-billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the magazine says: “to help bridge the gap between the haves and the have-nots” through grants for education and health programs for the poor. The Gateses want to “make an immediate and complete impact,” Patty Stonesifer, co-chairman of the foundation, told Business Week.
Mr. Buffett, on the other hand, has taken a “contrarian” approach to giving, opting to hang on to all but a sliver of his $30-billion in wealth while still alive, the magazine says. Moreover, it says, Mr. Buffett is leaving his charitable legacy in the hands of his former son-in-law, Allen Greenberg, who, despite being divorced from Mr. Buffett’s only daughter continues to run the Buffett Foundation.
The intensely private Mrs. Gates, who did not speak to Business Week, grew up a Roman Catholic, a background that has helped shape the Gateses’ giving, says the magazine. While the Gateses have given money to a few family-planning groups, including Planned Parenthood Federation of America, those gifts “are a small part of the foundation’s overall donations,” the magazine says. “Furthermore, the funds are earmarked for very specific purposes, such as a teen-age hot line and Web site, projects that have nothing to do with providing abortions.”
Mr. Buffett, on the other hand, has focused his philanthropy on population control, including non-profit abortion services, Business Week notes.
And while Mr. Buffett has been parsimonious with his philanthropy so far, his foundation’s giving is rising. It made $17.6-million in grants in 1999, up 41 per cent from 1998, according to the magazine.
The Business Week article is available to the magazine’s subscribers at http://www.businessweek.com.
