Listening to a Donor: Bill Gates

Listening to a Donor: Bill Gates

By Tom Wilson Major Gifts Guru

Every time you can listen or read about a donor's values. Grab the opportunity. It gives you insights into other donors.

The Chronicle of Philanthropy recently ran an article excerpting items from Bill Gates first annual letter. Here are some highlights. For the full letter go to website for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

• 2009 giving to increase to $3.8 billion inspite of the 20% loss of their assets


• The Gates Foundation will close 50 years after the death of the last of the three current trustees (Bill Gates, Melinda Gates, Warren Buffett)

Gates reflected on his retirement from Microsoft and move to part-time foundation work. He notes three things that kept him engaged at Microsoft.

• 1) "There was an opportunity for big breakthroughs—including changing computers from being expensive and only for big companies to being inexpensive and empowering to individuals with a wide range of great software for almost any task. I wanted a personal computer with great software for myself and everyone else."


• 2) "I thought my skills would let me help create a special company that would be part of a whole new industry. I felt I belonged in the software business, having thought about the engineering and the business possibilities maniacally from age 13."


• 3) "The work let me engage with people who were smart and knew things I didn’t. The day-to-day work always involved new problems and new ways of drawing out the best efforts from other people. We were always taking risks—some of which didn’t pay off and some of which did."

There's a lot more about their giving philosophies, but I found his personal values fascinating. This letter will be the first of his annual letters. Melinda Gates will appear in videos.

Wouldn't it be great if more of your major donors communicated like this.

Click here for the second article in the series: Listening to a Donor: Bill Gates (part 2 of a series)

Permanent Link: Listening to a Donor: Bill Gates

http://majorgiftsguru.com/2009/02/listening-to-donor-bill-gates.html