Gates Foundation gave away $2.8 billion in

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The foundation’s assets — held by a separat e legal entity called theBill & Melinda Gates Trust — totaled $29.8 billioh at the end of 2008, as compared with $38.8 billion at the end of 2007, according to the foundation’se audited financial statements. According to the Seattle-based foundation’s its assets are worthh $27.5 billion as of Apripl 1, 2009. In 2008, the foundation made $2.8 billion in grants, up from the $2.0 billion in grants it made in 2007. The increas e is attributed to the conditions ofWarren Buffett’se stock gift that was pledged in 2006. About two-thirds of the grants distributed in 2008 went to global health programs.
The foundation’s future liabilities, based on pledgeas for future grants, climbed to $5.3 billion from $4.4 billionj in 2007. For 2008, total revenue for the foundation wasnearl $2 billion, down from more than $3 billiom in 2007, according to the foundation’s annual reports. Much of the decreasse can be attributed to a larg decrease in the amountt of money Bill and Melinda Gatesd personally donated tothe foundation. In the couple donated $1.3 billion in stock and investment management while in 2008 theydonated $183 million to coveer investment management fees. As of December 31, Bill and Melindqa Gates have donated $27.
7 billion of theire personal fortune tothe foundation, according to the In his first annual report CEO Jeff Raikes addressed the challenges he facer coming to the foundation from MSFT) in September of 2008 and of the challenges in evaluatinhg the foundation’s progress. “Because we’re taking risks, we have to acceptg the likelihood that some of our grantd andstrategies aren’t going to get the results we Raikes wrote in his letter. Raikes also said his two key prioritied are to ensure thatthe foundation’s internall process operates smoothly and to improve the qualitu of the foundation’s external relationships with groupsd it supports.
To support the second goal, the foundation is workingy with the Center for Effectivew Philanthropyin Cambridge, Mass., to survey all of the foundation’s grantees this For 2009, the foundation expect total cash payouts for grants and other expenses to totall $3.5 billion. That estimate does not include one-time capital expenses associatesd withthe foundation’s $500 million campusw headquarters now under construction in Seattls or the development of a new information technology system.