Daily News Roundup: Gates Critics Question Sway at WHO

Bill Gates’s Influence at World Health Organization Draws Criticism: Some global-health experts and nonprofits say the United Nations agency has adopted the agenda of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation — WHO’s second-biggest donor, after the U.S. government — as its own, steering work and resources toward Gates priorities such as eradicating polio and malaria, Politico writes.

Nonprofit Backing Mo. Governor Widens Attack on Lawmakers: A group called A New Missouri, formed to promote Republican Gov. Eric Greitens’s agenda and run by his campaign aides, has produced ads targeting five state senators it says are blocking one of his legislative priorities, reports the Springfield News-Leader. Previous ads attacking another senatorial critic made public his cellphone number.

Minn. Legal Chief Blasts Car-Donation Charity Over Mission Spending: Attorney General Lori Swanson said Kars4Kids has spent less than 1 percent of $3 million raised from Minnesotans on programs in the state, the Star Tribune reports. The national nonprofit said most of its fundraising supports work in its Northeast base and that “Minnesota residents understand that charity needs cross state borders.”

Philanthropy Network Pushes Shift in Women’s Giving: The Financial Times (subscription) interviews Norway’s Crown Princess Mette-Marit and Kate Roberts of global health nonprofit Population Services International about the Maverick Collective, the antipoverty group they founded that draws on both the wealth and the skills of female donors. The article is part of a larger FT Wealth package focused in part on entrepreneurial philanthropy. Read Chronicle articles on the Maverick Collective and women’s growing philanthropic clout.

Vt. Donor Alleges College Mischaracterized Gift in Seeking Land Loan: Corinne Bove Maietta tells VTDigger she agreed to leave a bequest to Burlington College but never signed a gift deal or made payments on the planned donation. According to the Vermont news site, federal investigators are examining whether Jane Sanders, the now-defunct college’s former president, listed Ms. Maietta’s and other pledges as available collateral in seeking financing for a controversial property purchase.

Pulse Nightclub Owner Launches Fund to Create Mass-Shooting Memorial: The onePulse Foundation aims to erect a memorial and museum at the site of the Orlando, Fla., nightclub where 49 people were gunned down last June, the Orlando Sentinel writes. The fund, headed by Pulse owner Barbara Poma, also plans to endow scholarships in the names of the victims of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.