[ad_1]
Their 27-year marriage may be “unbreakable,” but there are still questions for Bill and Melinda Gates about the future direction, scale, and governance of the philanthropic organization they created together.
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which will disburse more than $ 5 billion a year, mostly for health and development projects, quickly moved to undo worries about the interruption that her divorce could lead to.
“Bill and Melinda will continue to be co-chairs and administrators,” he said. “There are no changes in their functions or organization. They will continue to work together to shape and approve foundation strategies, defend the foundation’s problems, and establish the overall direction of the organization. “
When Melinda Gates filed for divorce, ended more than three decades together during which they raised three children, became one of the richest couples in the world, gave away more than $ 55 billion and mobilized governments and other wealthy donors to make an impact much broader, including the Give pledge.
The couple has been at the forefront the response to the coronavirus pandemic, helping to develop and support research programs to prevent, diagnose and treat Covid-19, and strengthen Gavi, the UN-backed agency that helped oversee the distribution of vaccines to lower-income countries, and Covax, the system created to share Covid -19 vaccines.
What are the broader implications for the foundation’s government?
The future endowment of the foundation will depend on the size of the continued contributions of its separate fortunes, as well as the extension of more gifts from its longtime friend and trusted companion Warren Buffett. The 90-year-old investor has made substantial donations and has pledged to hand over 85% of his remaining $ 100 billion fortune.
The Gates have proven to be very practical, Buffett less so, except periodically on strategic issues such as limiting the foundation’s permanent staff to 1,600 employees. Some suggest that divorce could bring about changes to create greater advice in line with other foundations.
Internal notes for staff have underlined “normal operation”. As one employee put it: “The foundation is big enough. Even if they start putting money into something else, everything will be fine.
Professor Henry Peter, head of the Geneva Philanthropy Center at the University of Geneva, was more cautious.
“The foundation ecosystem is really based on just three trustees,” he said, referring to Gates and Buffett. “It simply came to our notice then [the Gates] they are not married as this couple will remain at the helm. It may be the right time to look at governance. “
He added that the message of the divorce “was not entirely easy to reconcile with the image it enjoys of the foundation. We can only hope that Melinda does not leave and establish her own initiative.”
Will the Cats diverge further in their philanthropic activities?
Unlike other wealthy couples who have divorced and started philanthropy later in life, the influence of Melinda – and that of Bill’s late father and some close friends – helped ensure that the Cats worked together. for more than two decades to lead the foundation that bears his names.
The couple remains heavily involved – attending weekly calls to Covid-19 and only last month overseeing the foundation’s latest annual intensive strategic review, which covers its 27 areas of the program.
In a video interview last week, Melinda said, “Don’t we agree? Sometimes, of course, yes. But what we do… The commitment many years ago to the foundation was that we would have these disagreements out. from the foundation, we would solve them and reach the foundation as leaders with one voice … this is our job, and we do it ”.
The founders share a focus on health and development, but Bill’s passion is the “hard sciences,” with an emphasis on technological and scientific advances and a narrow focus on outcomes. Melinda, on the other hand, has highlighted the “human sciences” with a drive for implementation on broader development issues and a growing focus on women’s issues, gender equality and empowerment.
The result has been an internal division with distinctive teams working on “Bill” projects and “Melinda” projects.
What will happen to your activities outside the foundation?
Invoice He resigned last year from the board of Microsoft, the company that made a fortune, and which has sold most of its company’s shares and invested in climate change technologies. He has also made philanthropic contributions to causes such as the fight against Alzheimer’s disease, which his late father suffered from.
Some have pointed to Melinda’s greater willingness to criticize government policy, especially under former President Donald Trump, and have even speculated that she could enter politics, such as running for the U.S. Senate if she has a seat.
Forbes it estimates their joint wealth at $ 130 billion. An undisclosed and unanswered “separation contract” under Washington state law will determine the division of assets and assets, which include your personal investment portfolio, maintained through Cascade investment – and its $ 66,000-square-foot waterfront home on Lake Washington, valued at $ 150 million.
His investments have included stakes in groups such as the Four Seasons luxury hotel group; Canadian National Railway; waste collection company Republic Services; Ecolab, the manufacturer of disinfectants; Femsa beverage group; and Deere, the agricultural machinery manufacturer.
Bill and Melinda also oversee their own corporate impact funds, including Gates Ventures. Advanced energy ventures i Pivotal Ventures – that allow them to invest in social causes. The foundation itself disburses its philanthropic donations, while the barred assets it controls (valued at more than $ 50 billion in 2019) are managed and managed by an independent trust.
The youngest of his four children recently turned 18, so now they are all legally adults, which reduces custody complications. Her daughter Jennifer posted on her Instagram account, “It’s been a tough time for our whole family.”
Additional reports from Billy Nauman in New York
[ad_2]
Source link
