Opinion: Free-Market Principles Are Transforming Philanthropy

A new crop of wealthy entrepreneurs is driving a “titanic shift” in giving by applying free-market principles to tackling global problems and should be applauded for their efforts, the billionaire media mogul Steve Forbes writes in an online piece for The Washington Post.

The new mega-donors, led by Bill Gates, have turned the tools they used in making their fortunes “to helping others,” Mr. Forbes says. “The result is a shift toward low-cost, high-impact solutions that address the root of social ills.”

Noting criticism by education activists of Mr. Gates’s funding of and involvement in implementing the Common Core standards for schools nationwide, Mr. Forbes writes: “Agree or disagree with the program, one has to commend Gates for initiating a national dialogue and publicly providing real information to address this important issue. … The reality is that today philanthropy is meeting the needs that government and the private sector have not.”