Not Many Speak Their Mind to Gates Foundation

With a $38 billion endowment that exceeds the gross domestic product (GDP) of most countries it helps — and another $30 billion pledged by investor Warren Buffett — the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has come to dominate the philanthropic world in the same way Microsoft towered over the software landscape.

But philanthropy experts and even some foundation leaders are uneasy with all the adulation.

Full-text article by Sandi Doughton is available via the Seattle Times, 8.3.08.

Microsoft Executive Will Lead Gates Charity

A well-known Microsoft Corp. executive was named to lead the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation into a period that will test how well it can effectively distribute an unprecedented amount of money.

Jeff Raikes, a 27-year Microsoft veteran, will become chief executive, the Seattle-based foundation said Monday. He will succeed Patty Stonesifer, who has overseen the philanthropic activities of Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda Gates, since the 1990s.

Full-text article by Robert A. Guth is available via The Wall Street Journal, 5.13.08. [Subscription required.]

Other related media postings:
Raikes To Run Gates Foundation by Maurna Desmond via Forbes, 5.13.08
Interview with Bill and Melinda Gates via NPR's All Things Considered, 5.12.08