Gates Foundation funds education policy...

October 27, 2009

In addition to the $200 million it has spent on elementary and secondary education, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation now is diving into education policy, hoping to influence how the federal government plans to award $5 billion in grants to public schools, The Associated Press reported Oct. 26 (see Gates education story). The foundation will offer $250,000 to each of the states that apply for the federal grants.

The Lucile Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford received $50 million from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation to add 104 beds to the hospital's Palo Alto campus, CBS 5/BCN reported Oct. 23 (see Packard donation story).

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation awarded $100,000 to Crosscut, a local Seattle news site that recently converted from a for-profit entity to a nonprofit, The Seattle Post Intelligencer reported Oct. 23 (see nonprofit journalism story). The new mission of the group is to provide local journalism "in the public interest."

A couple whose children have Type I diabetes has donated $5 million to the University of Virginia Health System to fund diabetes research, The Washington Post reported Oct. 25 (see diabetes donation story). Paul Manning, CEO of PBM Products, and his wife, Diane, believe the system can find a cure for the disease.

The University of California system has launched a four-year campaign to raise $1 billion to provide financial aid for middle-class students, KCBS reported Oct. 23 (see University of California story). If approved by the system's governing body, students from families with incomes of less than $70,000 would pay no fees to attend a system school.

About 95 percent of the funds raised for charity through "street marketing" in its first year in Australia is being paid to professional fundraisers rather than charities, ABC's The World Today reported (see charity marketing story). Some charities defend the practice, say it happens worldwide and provides needed fund they otherwise would not have.

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