One of the richest entrepreneurs on Earth, Bill Gates, is well known for his charitable projects. Together with his wife Melinda, he founded a foundation that deals with several important issues: fighting heavy diseases, ecology, human rights. For all the years of existence of this organization, the spouses have simply donated a huge sum - over $ 40 billion! Recently, the couple talked with journalists about their vision of philanthropy and what makes them spend so much of their own money on humanitarian projects.
Bill Gates said the following:
"It's not that we want to perpetuate our names. Of course, if one day such terrible diseases as malaria or poliomyelitis disappear, we will be pleased to realize that this is part of our merit, but this is not the goal of charity. "
Two reasons to donate money for good deeds
Mr. Gates and his wife voiced two reasons that inspire them when it comes to charity. The first is the importance of such work, the second - a couple gets a great pleasure from a useful "hobby".
Here's how the founder of Microsoft corporation said:
"Before we were married, Melinda and I discussed these serious topics and decided that when we get rich, we will definitely invest in charity. For wealthy people, this is part of the basic responsibility. If you could already take care of yourself and your offspring, the best thing you can do with an overabundance of money is to give them back to society. You will not believe, but we like to immerse ourselves in science. In our fund, we are dealing with biology, computer science, chemistry and many other fields of knowledge. It gives me pleasure to talk with researchers and experts for hours, and then I want to come home to my wife as soon as possible to tell her about what I've heard. "
Melinda Gates echoes his wife:
"We come from families in which they believed that the world must be changed for the better. It turns out that we had no choice at all! We have been dealing with our foundation for 17 years, that is most of the time that we are married. And this is the work in fulltime format. Today it has become an integral part of our life. Of course, we transfer these values to our children. When they become adults, we will take them on our trips so that they can see with their own eyes what their parents are doing. "
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Summing up, Ms. Gates said that maybe 20 years ago, she and her husband could have disposed of their capital differently, but now it's impossible to imagine. She is pleased with the choice made and believes that it is difficult for her to imagine another life for herself.