Bill Gates' Charity Deeds: From "Iron Rooster" to Number One Philanthropist
Liu Jun, correspondent of the International Herald Tribune, was sent from Beijing1autumn of 993, Congo (DRC), Africa.
Melinda wandered in the dead city, and all the shops on both sides of the narrow street were boarded up, like a dead city. In the outdoor market outside the city, several women put some vegetables on the ground and sold nothing else. Melinda searched the walking women with her eyes to see if they were wearing shoes. The result disappointed her: no, they were all barefoot.
Bill, Melinda's boyfriend? Gates didn't believe what he saw. At this time, at the age of 38, he was already sitting on billions of dollars in wealth, but he didn't expect that there were people on this earth who didn't even have shoes.
1. Wealth and pressure
However, Gates' sympathy was only touched a little, but he didn't put it into action. His spendthrift personality has not changed much. This year, Gates, who is keen on collecting, bought Childe from a collector at Sotheby's in new york for $20 million. Hassam's greenhouse is nearly four times higher than the original owner's original price of $5.5 million. A year later, he spent $30.8 million to buy the Italian Renaissance master Da? For Gates, who already has $8.3 billion in assets, Finch's 65,438+08 pages of notes are equivalent to nine Niu Yi hairs.
In that year, Americans donated $654.38+024 billion, equivalent to 654.38+0.7% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States. At this time, Gates was still a penniless "miser".
1994 was a bittersweet year in Gates' life. On New Year's Day, he and Melinda finally got married. At the wedding, Gates packed all the cars, helicopters and 250 hotel rooms in Lanai Island. In the same year, Gates' beloved mother died of cancer.
Such a great change has dealt a great blow to Gates' spirit and feelings. The richest man in the world began to rethink the meaning and direction of life. This year, at the suggestion of his father, he took out $94 million and established William? Gates Foundation, this is Bill and Melinda? The predecessor of the Gates Foundation. A year later, to commemorate the first anniversary of their mother's death, the Gates and his wife donated $654.38+0 billion to the University of Washington and founded Mary? Gates Scholarship. Since then, Bill and Melinda have donated $654.38 million to Fred in Seattle. Haakinson Cancer Research Center.
However, the American people only noticed that his wealth had risen to 1995 dollars, and his charitable acts were rarely mentioned. The real turning point appeared in 1997. In September this year, the United States owed more than one billion dollars to the United Nations, which was once on the verge of financial bankruptcy. Ted, founder of CNN? Turner unexpectedly announced that he would donate $654.38 billion to the United Nations to deal with the financial crisis and other development assistance projects.
The American media have reported this righteous act in a prominent position and described Turner as the leader of a new generation of American charity tycoons. This evaluation is not excessive at all. The donation of $654.38 billion accounts for almost one-third of Turner's personal assets. Zhang Wen, director of the work department of China Children's Hope Relief Foundation, was in the United States. She remembers Turner telling the media: "I donated so much money to the United Nations. What's your money doing there? "
Some newspapers even counted the wealth and donations of the richest people in the United States, and changed their faces and accused Gates of being the richest man in the world. Under the media's rendering, the call for Gates to donate money to the society is growing, which has become a powerful social pressure.
2. Suffering and moving
It was not Gates who was the first to feel uneasy about the long speech attacking the United States, but his father. Bill's father, Gates Sr, is a respected retired lawyer in the local area, and his mother, Mary, was an outstanding social activist in Seattle and has been devoted to charity.
But in Gates' view, everyone has a way to give back to society. Microsoft has solved the employment of tens of thousands of people, promoted the prosperity of high-tech industries and promoted the activity of the American economy. Isn't this a contribution to society? But the social demand for him does not stop there. Countless letters and requests for help come in like snowflakes every day.
However, it was not until a year later that a media report made Gates "painfully" determined to do charity. 1998 When Gates was facing a Microsoft lawsuit and fell into mental torment, an article in The New York Times's Sunday edition deeply touched the couple. This article outlines the huge differences in income, medical care and average life expectancy in different countries in the world with figures and charts. According to the article, worldwide, 90% of diseases occur in poor countries, but people in these countries only have 65,438+00% health care resources.
This article once again evokes the personal experience of the Gates 1993 trip to Africa. Melinda later recalled: "I remember that this was the first time that Bill and I talked about how painful these diseases were for children. We ask ourselves, what can we do? "
The couple first sent the article to Old Gates, and then went to discuss it with him in detail. Bill said excitedly to his father, "Maybe we can do something to change this situation." They asked Gates Sr. to help them learn and master health care knowledge. Since then, William? The focus of the Gates Foundation began to shift to the field of health care. The miser began to spend a lot of money on donations.
3. Change and satisfaction
At the beginning, Gates Sr. repeatedly urged Gates to fulfill the "obligation" of a citizen to give back to the society, and he still felt anxious about it. What Gates did later was far beyond his and everyone's imagination. In fact, people have overlooked a detail. 1997 Gates and Melinda set up a new foundation: the Gates Library Foundation, which is dedicated to making more people access to scientific and technological resources through public libraries. 1999, the Gates Library Foundation was renamed the Gates Learning Foundation. With the change of the name, the focus of the foundation has also changed, from subsidizing public libraries to subsidizing students from poor families and ethnic minorities, so that they have the opportunity to go to school.
Gates' charity is on the rise as is his wealth. In August of that year, Gates Sr. disclosed a shocking news to the outside world. In an interview with the British Sunday Times, he announced that according to the calculation at that time, Gates planned to donate more than $654.38+00 billion in property, leaving only $654.38+00 million for each child. This donation is mainly used to help AIDS and malaria patients.
The next year, William? The Gates Foundation and the Gates Learning Foundation merged into Bill and Melinda? The Gates Foundation, whose focus has also been merged, is committed to expanding the rights and interests in the following four areas: global health care, education, public computing equipment in libraries, and support for disadvantaged children and families along the Pacific coast in the northwest of the United States.
Bill and Melinda. At first, the Gates Foundation worked in the basement of the old Gates residence, and later moved into a two-story building in Seattle. The staff consisted of 2 16 people, including children's health consultants, public health management experts, lawyers and financial personnel. It is said that Gates spends an average of 65,438+00 hours a week busy with foundation work.
In order to make good use of this fund, Gates even became a medical expert. During his holiday in Brazil, he also read through the molecular biologist James? Watson's book Gene and Molecular Biology. Gates revealed: "Biology has enabled us to overcome one disease after another. I am reading some books about tuberculosis and AIDS at present. I like general biology very much, such as the human immune system, which I find very interesting. Of course, this also has a lot to do with the work goals of our foundation. "
The aid effect is very remarkable. Since the implementation of the Gates Foundation donation project, the vaccination rate of children in some African countries has been greatly improved, and the average vaccination cost per child has increased from less than 1 USD to 1 USD, which has successfully saved more than110,000 lives. Gates later said in an interview with the media: "In my opinion, the two feelings are how much software did similar people buy? And then what? How many lives have been saved? , are very beautiful numbers. "
In the eyes of Ye Lei, the chief representative of the Beijing Representative Office of the Gates Foundation, the Gates are a very dedicated philanthropist. "Wherever they go, they simply learn the attitude of visiting and understand what is going on, where is the problem and what is the key; If the Gates Foundation wants to participate, what should we do? It is a modest learning attitude. " Ye Lei said that Gates had publicly told employees that his greatest personal satisfaction in recent years was to devote himself to the cause of improving world fairness, which he thought was very meaningful. (Part of this article comes from Bill? Published by China Youth Publishing House. The new legend of gates)
Bill Gates' Philanthropy: How did American Philanthropy come into being?
Liu Jun, a reporter from the International Herald Tribune, is from Beijing. This is the sixth time that Tory has asked his neighbors for donations.
"Can you donate ten dollars? This money is used to help orphans in China. " This American girl, who is only 10 years old, begged her neighbors outside the door. Tori has participated in an "Action of Hope" to raise money for orphans in China every year since she was five years old. Every time, she will call all her relatives, friends and neighbors or take the initiative to persuade them to donate. And every Christmas, she will tell her relatives and friends that she doesn't want a gift, just money, and then donate it.
Zhang Wen, director of the work department of China Children's Hope Relief Foundation, and Tory's mother are good friends. Such touching stories are often encountered by Zhang Wen when she lives in the United States. All of a sudden, charity in the United States is not just a hobby of entrepreneurs, but a national movement.
1. Good tradition
According to the survey of the Charity Research Center of Indiana University in the United States, in 2005, 67% of American families donated money to charities, and the proportion of donations from high-income families (annual income of more than 200,000 US dollars and property of more than 6,543.8+0,000 US dollars) was as high as 98%. In fact, in the past 40 years, the average annual charitable donation of Americans accounted for 1.8% of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United States. Xu Yongguang, founder of Hope Project and vice chairman of Narada Foundation, said in an interview with the reporter of International Herald that in the past few years, the per capita donation of the United States reached more than 800 US dollars, while that of China was less than 10 yuan.
Americans' enthusiasm for charity is largely related to their religious beliefs. A passage in the Gospel of Luke in the Bible: "When Jesus looked up, he saw that the rich man put his donation in the treasury and a poor widow put in two coppers, and he said,"? I tell you the truth, the poor widow put in more than all the people, because all the people have more than they have, so they put this into the donation. But the widow herself is deficient, and she devoted all her medical care. "
"The China people often tell us? Give someone roses, your hands smell good? It is a truth. " Since the mid-1990s, Zhang Wen has set up a charity organization in the United States to help American families adopt orphans in China. She is very familiar with American charity culture. "What does the American Church emphasize? Eleven dedication? It means that God requires everyone to donate 10% of their annual income to the church. "
At school, American children receive charity education from an early age. "For example, the school will teach children to sell their small glasses and donate them to the Salvation Army (charity organization). They help the poor. " Zhang Wen said that there are countless fund-raising activities in the United States every year. "Everyone's bit by bit is a huge force, and it is important to participate."
Zhang Wen's friend, the wife of American ambassador to China Reid, also practices her charity idea in this way. "As the ambassador's wife, she just called for donations, but she didn't do it. Instead, let the children go to the China Children's Welfare Agency to see the children and teach them to sing. She also donated items for charity sale and donated money to migrant children in China. " Zhang Wen said: "Charity is a process of getting. If you just give money, you may not get it. After you get involved yourself, your heart will be there. "
2. Institutional incentives
If ordinary Americans are keen on charity because they believe in "mutual aid culture", then the donation of the rich may be related to "evil and wealth culture" People think that the rich are born as "guilty people", and the only way for the rich to enter heaven is to donate all their wealth to the poor.
This theory in the American steel giant Andrew? Carnegie's philosophy of life. 1889, one of the great founders of American private philanthropy wrote in the Gospel of Wealth: "It won't be long before people who leave huge wealth (instead of donating it in their lifetime) will be spurned by the public. People are rich when they die, and they are ashamed when they die. " It is said that this classic of modern American philanthropy is Bill? One of Gates' favorite books.
If these are the internal causes of American participation in charity, then the external cause is the tax refund system in the United States. Ethan, a reporter from The Wall Street Journal who lives in the United States, said that in the United States, it is taken for granted to reduce taxes for donations. Even if you donate old clothes, you can ask for tax reduction. When politicians take part in elections, the media often check their tax returns and judge whether they are keen on public welfare according to the amount of tax reduction. From the president of the United States to local councillors, there have been examples of being ridiculed by public opinion because of the small amount of tax cuts on the tax table.
3. High transparency
Apart from the gap in the tax refund system, compared with the United States, the number of charitable organizations in China is pitifully small. Xu Yongguang said that China has more than 100 charitable organizations, while the United States has 100. Private donations in the United States are about $260 billion a year, and the amount of volunteer service is similar. More than half of the donations in the United States come from the private sector.
More charitable departments will definitely bring competition, and competition will definitely bring transparency. "In the United States, those public institutions are completely private. They can only grow and develop on their own credit. If there is something wrong with your credit, you won't receive the donation. " Xu Yongguang said that this kind of competition makes them maintain a high degree of transparency in the use of donations. "It's very simple. In order to develop, every organization will try its best to improve its credibility. Donors ask where donations are used, and public institutions must give explanations and answers. "
Bill Gates' Charity Story Information: Gates' Charity Story in China
Liu Jun, a reporter from the International Herald Tribune, arrived at the Beijing Chaoyang District CDC in Panjiayuan at 8 am. A month ago, a representative of a gay NGO in Beijing received a notice from the competent department to meet Bill here. Gates.
Less than an hour later, a Buick business class station wagon arrived at the CDC. Under the escort of two bodyguards, Gates walked into the building wearing a light gray suit and smiling. Next, Zhuang Hao, representatives of other NGOs and several HIV-infected people sat down with Gates for 40 minutes in closed-door communication.
This is April 18, 2007, Bill? The second day of Gates' tenth trip to China. Seven months later, Bill and Melinda? The Gates Foundation (hereinafter referred to as the Gates Foundation) officially announced that it will donate 50 million US dollars in five years to help China prevent and control the spread of AIDS.
1. The first overseas office
This is a great boon for HIV-infected people and high-risk groups in China. In the past 10 years, the Gates Foundation has invested billions of dollars in AIDS prevention in developing countries such as Africa and India. 10 years later, AIDS is still the most serious challenge facing all mankind. Of the $50 million allocated to China, $20 million will be given to the Ministry of Health of China, and the remaining $30 million will be provided to non-governmental organizations in China, targeting MSM, CSW and intravenous drug users in large and medium-sized cities of China and Hainan.
Among all the aid projects of the Gates Foundation in the world, AIDS prevention is the one with the most investment. Ye Lei, the chief representative of the Beijing representative office of Gates Foundation, said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune that this is one of the reasons why Gates made AIDS prevention his first project in China.
In fact, as early as a few years ago, when the Gates Foundation launched an AIDS prevention project in India, Gates' attention had turned to China. In the summer of 2004, Gates began his trip to China. At the invitation of Gates, Ye Lei attended a round table meeting with China disease control experts, NGO representatives and HIV-infected people. Ye was then the director of the China office of the Global AIDS Program of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This meeting is regarded as the beginning of the layout of the Gates Foundation in China.
Since then, the Gates Foundation has started research and preparation for two years. On the one hand, the Gates Foundation sends a delegation to inspect the current situation of AIDS prevention among high-risk groups in China every year. Guan Baoying, then deputy director of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention of the Beijing Municipal Health Bureau, recalled to the Tribune of the International Herald Tribune: "In the past two years, I have taken them to gay places and methadone treatment points for drug addicts in Beijing. They asked very detailed questions, not only talking to the medical staff, but also asking the people who took the medicine in the outpatient department before and after taking the medicine. "
On the other hand, at the headquarters of the Gates Foundation in Seattle, there are repeated debates within the Foundation about what kind of work mode to adopt to carry out projects in China. "There are several modes. One is to give funds to international organizations in the United States to operate in China; The second is what the Gates Foundation did in India: hired some professionals to operate there. The third mode is to set up a representative office in China and hand over the funds directly to the local government and NGOs for operation. We will provide technical and management support. " Ye Lei recalled.
The selection process is a bit long. It took about a year before the Gates Foundation decided to adopt the third working mode to carry out projects in China. However, new troubles have come.
2. Innovative aid model
Since China suspended the registration of all international organizations in China in 2006, the Gates Foundation had to postpone its China project for one year.
5438+065438+In June 2007, when the Gates Foundation promised to donate 50 million US dollars to China, the Beijing Representative Office of the Gates Foundation was finally officially listed in an office building in Jianguomen North Street, Beijing. This small office, which can only accommodate 65,438+00 people, is not as good as the headquarters, but it is a precedent? The first overseas representative office of the Gates Foundation.
In Ye Lei's view, this has two advantages. "The situation in China is not simply a lack of funds, but a lack of technical and management support. In addition, connecting the government and NGOs is also a very important job, but if you work in Seattle, you will lack efficient support. " Ye Lei said, in addition, if we don't set up a representative office, because of the limitation of American law, the money of the Gates Foundation must go through international organizations in the United States, and this indirect operation will also affect efficiency.
After less than a year of operation, the work of the Beijing office of the Gates Foundation has been on the right track. "AIDS prevention and control work in various provinces and cities is gradually being carried out. Our project is not an independent project, but is combined with existing AIDS prevention and control projects in various places to speed up their work progress and intervention ability. " Ye Lei said that the goal of the Gates Foundation in China is to help China cultivate all-round AIDS prevention and treatment talents.
As Ye Lei said, promoting cooperation between the government and non-governmental organizations is a key point for Ye Lei and his colleagues. "In this way, AIDS prevention will soon reach an ideal state," Ye Lei said. Guan Baoying also agrees with this practice. Tribune, vice president of Beijing STD & AIDS Association, said in an interview with the International Herald Tribune: "Beijing has done a good job in the whole country, but less than 30% of AIDS patients are managed." In contrast, NGOs rooted in "grassroots" are more familiar with and understand this group.
The solution offered by Ye Lei is to give money piece by piece. "For example, if an NGO finds someone to test, it can get 100 yuan, and the government health department responsible for testing can also get 100 yuan for a test." Ye Lei explained that in this way, the more people NGOs look for, the more money they get, the more people they introduce, and the more money the government inspection department gets, so that they are more motivated and willing to cooperate with each other. "
The focus of this work is actually Gates' own idea. "After the strategic planning of the AIDS prevention and control project in China was handed over to the headquarters, he quickly approved it." Ye Lei said that during his trip to Chaoyang CDC in 2007, Gates made a special inspection for this plan.
Spending money is as hard as earning money.
Guan Baoying, who accompanied the tour that day, thought that Gates took one look and left. Unexpectedly, every crowd representative he met had a detailed understanding of the situation. Approachable and responsible, this is the deepest impression that Gates left on Guan Baoying. "He asked the infected person who provided antiviral drugs and whether the government had free treatment in other areas." Guan Baoying said that he was obviously prepared, and the original 20-minute visit was extended to 40 minutes.
The time for Zhuang Hao is only two or three minutes. "He has been listening and doesn't talk much." Zhuang Hao recalled: "I had some exchanges with him about how to carry out AIDS prevention among men who have sex with men (MSM). I told him that we plan to establish a referral channel between MSM community and domestic disease prevention resources through our own efforts and cooperation from all walks of life. " To Zhuang Hao's surprise, when he left, Gates happily wrote an encouraging inscription for the organization: Your work is very important. Bill Gates (Your job is very important! Bill? Gates)
What Ye Lei admires most about Gates is his major. "Gates attaches great importance to every penny he has invested in the foundation. He won't just listen to others say that this project is good and not invest. He is not a cursory look, but a very in-depth understanding and research. " Ye Lei recalled: "We often talked about AIDS and public health, and I found that he had a deeper understanding of these issues than many experts."
AIDS prevention is only the first project implemented by the Gates Foundation in China, and $50 million is only the first investment. Before the end of this year, two or three major projects, including agricultural technology and tuberculosis prevention and control, will be launched one after another. This autumn, Gates will once again set foot on the land of China and start his first 1 1 trip to China. Different from the past, this time we don't talk about Microsoft, only about charity.
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