Opinion: Gates Foundation Suffers From Feedback Gap

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation needs to interact more with the larger nonprofit world and open itself to independent voices, a Georgetown University senior fellow writes in The Seattle Times.

Pablo Eisenberg, of Georgetown’s Public Policy Institute and a Chronicle columnist, says the foundation relies on small panels of well-known individuals and a limited number of experts for grant and program recommendations. Garnering feedback, he says, “seems ceremonial.” Mr. Eisenberg argues that the Gateses should expand the foundation’s boards to include those outside their family and close circle of advisers.