Gates Foundation’s New Money Brings Challenges

Warren E. Buffett’s $31-billion gift to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has brought with it a new set of challenges, reports The New York Times. With the new gift, the foundation must give out twice as much money as it has in the past.

The foundation’s growth has revived arguments that its grant making dissuades government and other donors from spending their money; that its board is too small; and that its money concentrates power in the hands of too few.

Other people say the critics’ concerns are overblown, because the foundation’s grants are still often smaller than money given out by government—and small in comparison to the size of the problems the foundation is trying to tackle.

Among those problems is finding effective ways to prevent the spread of HIV/AIDS. At a global conference on AIDS in Toronto, Bill and Melinda Gates on Sunday pledged to pour more money into the search for an HIV vaccine, and called on other donors to do the same, reports The Star-Ledger in New Jersey.

Read The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s special report on the challenges facing the Gates Foundation as it receives the Buffett money.