Melinda Gates Urges Grant Makers to Embrace 'Difficult' Challenges

By Noelle Barton

Despite being the largest philanthropy in the United States, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation must work

ALSO SEE: TEXT: A transcript of the speech

in tandem with governments, businesses, and other foundations to solve the demanding social problems the world faces, said Melinda Gates at a meeting of grant makers here.

"Yes, we have a lot of resources, but it is a drop in the bucket compared to the goals that we have and where we're trying to go," the co-founder of the Gates Foundation told attendees at a conference held by the Council on Foundations, an association of grant makers that is based in Washington, D.C.

With $33-billion in assets, the Gates Foundation looms over all other charitable funds; the Ford Foundation, in New York, is the second largest fund with $12.2-billion. Last year, investor Warren E. Buffett pledged more than $30-billion to the Seattle fund, insuring it will remain the biggest grant maker for the near future.

Ms. Gates called the Buffett gift "astounding." She said the organization will use the massive contribution to strengthen its work in its primary grant-making areas — global health, worldwide social and economic development, and U.S. education.

'Global Impact'

But while Mr. Buffett's pledge will essentially turn the Gates Foundation into a $60-billion philanthropy giant, Ms. Gates said the foundation's wealth pales in comparison to what it wants to accomplish.

For example, even if Gates poured its entire assets into supporting public education, it would not cover the operating costs of the California school system for one year, she explained.

With such a disparity, the foundation needs to work with others, she said.

"If we're going to have a global impact and do it over the long haul, then governments and businesses have to be involved. They are central to everything that we do as a foundation," she said. Ms. Gates also said that her fund will continue to form partnerships with other foundations.

After her speech, Ms. Gates suggested that foundation officials who are attending the conference should use the meeting to pursue such cooperative efforts with each other. "Collaboration is really, really important," she told The Chronicle.

Despite the challenges that the Gates Foundation and other grant makers face, Ms. Gates emphasized the importance of doing tough work.

To illustrate her point, Ms. Gates told a family story. A few years ago, while watching her then 3-year-old daughter struggle to tie her shoes, Ms. Gates overheard the child mutter under her breath, "This is so difficult. But I like difficult."

For foundation officials trying to improve the world, "it will be difficult," she said. "But I am hopeful because I think we all in this room, like difficult."