28 March 2023

Gates Foundation Should Match Its Massive Global Giving With a Massive Commitment to Accountability

In his recent annual letter, Mark Suzman, CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, announced that the organization would spend a record $8.3 billion to respond to the compounding crises of war, climate change, stumbling economies, and infectious disease. Unfortunately, this increased spending has not been accompanied by an increased commitment to accountability.

Despite its growing role in setting the global development agenda, the Gates Foundation seems intent on proceeding without the crucial environmental and social safeguards and public-accountability mechanisms expected of the development institutions that traditionally lead such work.

While the foundation has taken some recent strides toward greater accountability — including expanding its board of directors and creating a channel through which people can report fraudulent use of the Gates Foundation name — those efforts don’t go nearly far enough.

Read the full article by our team in The Chronicle of Philanthropy here.