5 Questions for Bill Gates: The Daily Beast Interview

The world’s most generous donor tells The Daily Beast how to really help Haiti. Plus: See our list of Haiti's most effective on-the-ground non-profits, and donate now.

With the philanthropic sector under intense scrutiny in the wake of Haiti's devastating earthquake, the world's most generous donor, Bill Gates, is speaking out about foreign-aid spending and his own charitable giving in an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast and in his foundation's annual public letter.

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Among his goals for the coming year: asking Congress to pass President Barack Obama’s proposal to double American foreign-aid spending. More controversially, the head of the $37 billion Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation worries that increased international spending on fighting global warming could come at the expense of anti-poverty efforts. “I am concerned that some of this money will come from reducing other categories of foreign aid, especially health,” he writes. “If just 1 percent of the $100 billion [Copenhagen Climate Conference] goal came from vaccine funding, then 700,000 more children could die from preventable diseases.”

In an exclusive interview with The Daily Beast, Gates said via email that he hoped the Haiti earthquake would increase the public’s support for robust foreign aid. (The U.S. now spends less per capita on aid than any other developed nation, though it gives more overall.) “Haiti should remind us all that there is an immediate need to invest in and promote long-term development projects that are sustainable, scalable, and proven to work,” the Microsoft founder told The Daily Beast.

And despite his reputation as the ultimate capitalist—indeed, as nearly a monopolist—Gates said he doesn’t consider the concept of “big government” passé. “Governments will always play a huge part in solving big problems,” he said. “They set public policy and are uniquely able to provide the resources to make sure solutions reach everyone who needs them. Markets don’t serve the poor in some important sectors, like health, because the poor can’t afford to pay.”