The last question put to the CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation at a November event in Washington, D.C., was about a dynamic that the audience member deemed “the Gates curse.”
While the Gates Foundation encourages its grantees to diversify, it is often difficult for organizations that get Gates’ funding early on to attract other donors. This is because of a perception that they do not need further support, Peter Matlon, an expert in agricultural development, said in front of the audience at the American Enterprise Institute.
“When other donors are approached, they say well, ‘Gates has bottomless pockets. Why don’t they provide the support?’” he said, mentioning his experience working with the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa and African Women in Agricultural Research and Development when he was at the Rockefeller Foundation. “Or if Gates is beginning to phase down their support to encourage new donors coming in, they interpret that in the wrong way, that something isn’t working.”