Learning from Mistakes: The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
posted on: Thursday, June 11, 2009
By Julia Craig
Jeff Raikes, the new CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, gave the Associated Press an interview last week in which he acknowledged the importance of experimentation and innovation in philanthropy.
For eight years, the foundation invested $2 billion in the U.S. to test the theory that smaller schools would produce higher graduation rates. Many of the foundation-supported schools did see an increase in graduation rates; however, overall student achievement and college readiness remained about the same. Following a study on the L.A. Unified School District that found a teacher having a certificate did not impact student achievement, the foundation shifted course and is now focusing on individual teacher quality.
Raikes highlighted this as an example of the foundation’s willingness to experiment and adapt. “Almost by definition, good philanthropy means we're going to have to do some risky things, some speculative things to try and see what works and what doesn't,” he told the AP.
The Gates Foundation has been criticized for its heavy reliance on technological solutions in the developing world in healthcare and agriculture. However, the willingness of the foundation to acknowledge and learn from mistakes is crucial; doing so helps build the knowledge and experience of the philanthropic sector as a whole. As Raikes noted in his interview, social innovation is largely the purview of the nonprofit sector. “We're going to try some things and I'm quite confident that some things will succeed and I'm quite confident that some things will fail,” he said.
Given the complexity of the challenges of education, health, development, and so forth, foundations being willing to experiment and take risks is a key to finding innovative solutions. Do you think the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been sufficiently willing to take risks and to learn from their mistakes? If you ran the foundation, what new approaches would you want to test out?
Labels: accountability, Philanthropy's role in society, transparency
By Julia Craig
Jeff Raikes, the new CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, gave the Associated Press an interview last week in which he acknowledged the importance of experimentation and innovation in philanthropy.
For eight years, the foundation invested $2 billion in the U.S. to test the theory that smaller schools would produce higher graduation rates. Many of the foundation-supported schools did see an increase in graduation rates; however, overall student achievement and college readiness remained about the same. Following a study on the L.A. Unified School District that found a teacher having a certificate did not impact student achievement, the foundation shifted course and is now focusing on individual teacher quality.
Raikes highlighted this as an example of the foundation’s willingness to experiment and adapt. “Almost by definition, good philanthropy means we're going to have to do some risky things, some speculative things to try and see what works and what doesn't,” he told the AP.
The Gates Foundation has been criticized for its heavy reliance on technological solutions in the developing world in healthcare and agriculture. However, the willingness of the foundation to acknowledge and learn from mistakes is crucial; doing so helps build the knowledge and experience of the philanthropic sector as a whole. As Raikes noted in his interview, social innovation is largely the purview of the nonprofit sector. “We're going to try some things and I'm quite confident that some things will succeed and I'm quite confident that some things will fail,” he said.
Given the complexity of the challenges of education, health, development, and so forth, foundations being willing to experiment and take risks is a key to finding innovative solutions. Do you think the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has been sufficiently willing to take risks and to learn from their mistakes? If you ran the foundation, what new approaches would you want to test out?
Labels: accountability, Philanthropy's role in society, transparency
posted by Julia Craig at
10:29 AM
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