The Gates Foundation has already funded research into Alzheimer’s to the tune of $50 million, but this effort is different not only in its crowdsourcing approach, but also in its financing.
The Gates Foundation admits that a major educational investment hasn’t worked. What key lessons have they learned from the effort?
This new research institute is structured to get new treatments to those who need them rather than profit from technical marvels.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation continues to push its education reform agenda quietly in spite of failures and pushback from communities across the country.
A very large US foundation sent out an announcement yesterday about a major new initiative it’s funding to address poverty. Buried in the middle, it had something to say about the importance of “narrative” consciousness about “the poor.”
This $76M outlay from the Gates Foundation to repay a loan accrued by the Nigerian government to finance polio eradication is notable not just for its size, but its human value. Five years ago, Nigeria had half of all polio cases worldwide; last year, there were no reported new cases at all.
Being able to spend a few billion on wildly speculative endeavors can be dangerous. Diane Ravitch’s subject line? “Lordy, lordy! Bill Gates has a new idea. Run. Hide. Protect the students and the teachers!”
Nonprofits gain access to new resources, but at what cost to our democracy? This national trend of philanthropic plutocracy marches on, largely unchecked.
George Soros doubles down on his philanthropy, leading Open Society Foundation to become the nation’s second-largest foundation after Gates. But, there are many other things to note about the evolution of this unusual philanthropy.
Having the ability to invest billions is not enough to guarantee success. That’s one of the lessons a growing list of mega-donors and large foundations should be learning from their efforts to transform and improve public education.
