Melinda Gates’s Influence on Philanthropy
January 11, 2008 | Read Time: 2 minutes
The influence Melinda Gates has over the foundation she started with her husband, Bill Gates, is the topic of a cover article in the latest issue of Fortune magazine.
Ms. Gates says that deciding how to invest the foundation’s philanthropic assets is something the couple undertakes together. “We literally go down the chart of the greatest inequities and give where we can effect the greatest change,” she says.
While Mr. Gates tends to focus on long-term vaccine research and scientific solutions, Ms. Gates says she also wants the foundation’s efforts to make a difference immediately. “You can’t save kids just with vaccines,” she says. “I’d go into rural villages in India and think, ‘Okay, we saved this child. But the cows are defecating in the stream coming into the village. There are other things we need to be doing.’”
To Ms. Gates, the key to maximizing the impact of the foundation’s grants lies in forming partnerships. One such example occurred in 2006 when the Gates Foundation formed a $150-million alliance with the Rockefeller Foundation. “Melinda is a total-systems thinker,” explains Judith Rodin, president of Rockefeller. “She and Bill dive into issues. They care deeply, deeply, deeply about making a difference, but they don’t get starry-eyed. They demand impact.”
Warren Buffett, who donated $31-billion to the Gates Foundation, says that Ms. Gates is a critical piece of the foundation’s success.
“He’s smart as hell, obviously,” Mr. Buffett says, referring to Mr. Gates. “But in terms of seeing the whole picture, she’s smarter.” When asked if he would have given the Gates Foundation his billions if Ms. Gates had not been there, he answered, “That’s a great question. And the answer is, I’m not sure.”
Read excerpts from The Chronicle of Philanthropy’s interview with Ms. Gates last summer.
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