Gates the Most Recent Notable Donor to Background Check Campaign in WA

Ruth McCambridge

August 28, 2014

August 25, 2014; ABC News

Former NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg is not the only billionaire to invest in gun control. A million dollar donation from Bill Gates and his wife, Melinda, to the Initiative 595 campaign to expand background checks on gun sales in the state of Washington joins other big donations from Microsoft related givers. Gates’ Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen gave a $500,000 donation earlier this month and former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and his wife, Connie, have given $580,000.

Additionally, venture capitalist Nick Hanauer has donated nearly $1.4 million.

Bill and Melinda Gates’s donation was accompanied by a statement expressing hope that the initiative “will be an effective and balanced approach to improving gun safety in our state by closing existing loopholes for background checks.”—Ruth McCambridge

About the author

Ruth McCambridge

Ruth is Editor Emerita of the Nonprofit Quarterly. Her background includes forty-five years of experience in nonprofits, primarily in organizations that mix grassroots community work with policy change. Beginning in the mid-1980s, Ruth spent a decade at the Boston Foundation, developing and implementing capacity building programs and advocating for grantmaking attention to constituent involvement.

More about: Giving Gun Control Nonprofit News Philanthropy

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