Philanthropy the 'go-to partner for risk'

Bill Gates left Microsoft in 2006 to focus on his philanthropic work. Photo / AP

Philanthropy is now on the scale the likes of which the world has never seen.

Community/Politics: Helping the most vulnerable through philanthropic efforts has become incredibly advanced in the last decade, with the tools of technology, the power or human connection, systems and collaboration proving that the smartest person in the room is the collective.

Two prime examples of strategic philanthropy, with a focus on alleviating the suffering of the poorest, are the world's wealthiest private foundation with an endowment of nearly US$40 billion, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, and the foundation that recently celebrated its centennial year, started by one of the founding fathers of philanthropy, Rockefeller.

Both foundations have successfully broken down the barriers between the private and the social sector, filling niches governments could not or would not address. Both have played a leading role in addressing international health concerns, infectious disease control and eradication, and both foundations have dealt with a healthy dose of controversy.

In the early 20th century Rockefeller helped create the field of public health in the US, which all began with the foundation's effort to rid the southern United States of hookworm, which was being transmitted through bare feet in unsanitary conditions.

They discovered that, in addition to treating the disease, wiping it out required improved sanitation, and education that would change hygiene behaviours on a massive scale.

The Rockefeller Foundation also helped spark the development of many other new fields, including molecular biology, area studies, and public administration.

Fast forward to present day, the Gates Foundation has spent well over US$6 billion on vaccine-based giving to fight malaria, polio and AIDS, among others. It is the most human-driven philanthropy in the history of mankind.

Bill Gates is well known for consuming complicated medical texts in order to ask the doctors and scientists he employs highly complex questions, and both himself and his wife Melinda spend a lot of time in the field, listening to the stories of the people that are personally affected by poverty and disease.

It was during their trip to Africa in 1993 that the couple had their first encounter with extreme poverty, an experience that had a profound impact on them. In the year 2000 they consolidated their charities and formed the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, with an initial contribution of US$28 billion. Their mission statement was that 'all lives have equal value'.

In 2006 Bill Gates announced he would be leaving Microsoft full time to focus on his foundation. That same year US businessman and philanthropist Warren Buffet pledged most of his fortune to the foundation - US$31 billion - because he thought "they can do a better job giving the money away than I can".

To put things into perspective, the annual New Zealand aid budget is about NZ$550m per year. Initially the Gates Foundation went after two global problems, issues that have largely been ignored by governments; vaccines and birth control.

The body of Buffet's wealth allowed them to deepen their commitments, particularly to education.

Polio is a top priority, with just three countries still affected: Pakistan, Afghanistan and Nigeria. This could become the second disease after small pox that has ever been eradicated. In March this year India will celebrate three years without polio.

Malaria has fallen by 25 per cent since the millennium. A vaccine invented at drug giant GlaxoSmithKline, funded in part and initiated by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, cut the rate of malaria infection in small children roughly in half, providing real hope of declining the toll from a mosquito-borne disease that infects 250 million people a year.

In 2006 the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation announced that they would form an alliance to contribute to a "Green Revolution" in Africa that would dramatically increase the productivity of small farms, moving tens of millions of people out of extreme poverty and significantly reducing hunger. Agricultural Development programmes have totalled US$380 million so far.

Philanthropy is the go-to partner for risk. Unlike governments, philanthropy does not answer to the polls, and unlike businesses, the foundations do not measure success by quarterly earnings. When the work is the hardest and the risk of failure is the greatest, that is when paramount outcomes are achieved.

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