It was in 1994 that Gates had mingled feelings of joy and sorrow. On the New Year Day this year, he and Melinda married. In the same year, he deeply loved mother died of cancer. Such a huge change had been a great fight to Gates` spirit and feelings. The world's richest man began to rethink the meaning of life and life direction. He took out 94 million dollars to establish the William Gates Foundation under his father's suggestion this year. It's the predecessor of Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. However, American people only paid attention that his fortune had grown to 12.9 billion dollar but no touched on his charitable and altruistic act.
The real transition appeared in 1997. In September of this year, America was in arrears more than 1 billion dollars for the United Nations' membership dues, impecunious United Nations was in the edge of financially bankrupt. The forefather of CNN Ted Turner announced unexpectedly that he would donate 1 billion dollars to UN to deal with financial crisis and other developmental aid programs. This was widely covered by American media which delineate Turner as the leader of a new-generation philanthropists. Some newspaper even figured out the fortune and donated money of all the rich people. They went on criticizing Bill Gates for not donating money as the world`s most famous people.
The voices of asking Gates to donate money and make contribution to the society were getting louder and louder in the rendering of the media, pretty soon, it turned into a powerful social stress. In Gate`s view, everyone had his own way to contribute to society. Microsoft solved 10 thousands people` employments, promoted the development of high-tech industry and brought in the activity of economy. Weren`t them the contribution to society? In 1998, when Microsoft was facing with lawsuit, and Gates was suffering from spiritual pain, the "New York Times" published an article saying that 90% of diseases happened in poor countries, but people in these countries had only 10% of the health-care resources. This article evoked the personal experiences in Africa of Mr and Mrs Gates. From that time on, the William and Gates Foundation switched their focus to health and medical areas.
Gates` charities are climbing as his wealth. Gates