January 12, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
Ever since the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation began reluctantly accepting gifts from people other than the Gateses and Warren Buffett in 2006, blog writers have speculated on what the unsolicited contributions mean for philanthropy.
Last summer the foundation said it received $10.4-million in 2008 in such gifts, an 84-percent increase from 2007.
According to the Gates fund’s informational tax return from 2008, the most recent year available, the growth in unsolicited gifts came largely from one source: the estate of a Pennsylvania investor.
John W. Jacobs, who died at age 58 from cancer, gave $9-million to the largest foundation in the country.
His younger brother, Richard W. Jacobs, told The Chronicle that Mr. Jacobs was inspired to make the bequest because of his years traveling to impoverished parts of the world.
“He saw the conditions in a lot of the third-world countries,” said Mr. Jacobs’ brother. “He didn’t go to the fancy hotels and live the high-life; he was mixing with the locals.”
Mr. Jacobs, who spoke fluent Spanish, traveled throughout Latin America and continued traveling during much of life; a planned trip to Fiji was canceled because of his illness.
Mr. Jacobs did not tell his brother why he wanted to provide the bulk of his fortune to the Gates foundation, which prefers donors support charities directly. But the younger Mr. Jacobs speculated that the organization’s reputation appealed to him.
“He thought the Gates foundation would do the most for what he wanted to do,” says Mr. Jacobs. “He thought it would do the most good.”
What do you think? Why do people like Mr. Jacobs give to the Gates fund?
