ABSTRACT
This chapter provides both an overview and critically evaluation of the role of private philanthropy and foundations in development. Their role has come into stark focus since COVID-19 because of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation’s role as one of the three largest funders to the World Health Organization. Private philanthropy offers only a fraction of the funds provided for health and development by donor governments as official development assistance, yet it often has an out-sized policy influence. In health, the Gates Foundation promotes market-led solutions to health care and the chapter outlines some of the limitations to market-based approaches. It also features the profit-extraction from microfinance and the way that the Gates Foundation has subsidized private firms providing mobile funds transfer schemes and called this charity. Drawing comparisons between the Gates Foundation and mid-century foundations such as the Ford and Rockefeller Foundations, the chapter highlights the problems of philanthrocapitalism.
