Bill Gates, King of Philianthropy?

With the announcement that Bill Gates is stepping down from his day to day role at Microsoft, Gates could quickly become the king of philanthropy on a scale never seen before.

What will make Gates different from other philanthropists, perhaps this will tell you:

"This is good news for the world's poor," said Anne Lynam Goddard, chief of staff of CARE, an Atlanta-based nonprofit group focusing on ending global poverty and social injustice that received $10 million from the Gates foundation this year for health initiatives. "The Gates foundation has been a trendsetter. They've raised the bar in public health and reinvigorated interest in it."

Goddard and other public health experts said it is not just the sheer amount of money Gates brings to the table but also the businesslike focus on results and effectiveness that has made an impact. It's the "entrepreneurial, results-focused culture [that] has been a great thing for global health," said Orin Levine, executive director of a Johns Hopkins University program to spread access to pneumococcal vaccines, which received funding from the foundation.

In my experience, the non-profits that do best are those that bring a business-like attitude to the table. One can spend enormous sums of money on any project, but if the results are there, the money is simply wasted.

The hyper-competitive Gates will more than likely change the face of philanthropy, making it much more results oriented. Results that matter will take center stage in Gates life, and that is a good thing.