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November 16, 2010 in Region
Gates Foundation pledges $500M toward poor savings
SEATTLE — The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation announced a $500 million pledge today to support projects that encourage poor people around the world to save money.
The pledge Melinda Gates announced at a global savings forum in Seattle will more than double what the foundation has previously committed to help the poor make financial plans for the future — to save for everything from fertilizer to school fees and uniforms.
“They talk eloquently about how savings can transform their lives,” Gates said about the female farmers and small business owners in Africa, Latin America and Asia she has talked to about financial services. “Savings gives them the ability to marshal their resources,” she added.
As part of the $500 million pledge, Gates announced a package of six new grants totaling $40 million. The grants will expand the foundation’s work involving branchless banking and mobile money, and will pay for more research on how people use formal and informal financial tools.
Gates said financial services for the poor are an unusual challenge because it’s not just about money. “It’s not a resource gap. It’s an idea gap,” she said.
The Gates Foundation, the world’s largest charitable foundation, has brought together bankers, government officials, regulators, telecommunications companies and community organizers from around the world this week to talk about working together to benefit the poor.
Princess Maxima of the Netherlands, the United Nations’ special advocate for inclusive finance for development, spoke about the need to offer a variety of services, from savings to microfinance to insurance and consumer protection. She emphasized a need to keep talking about the poor so these new ideas don’t just help the low end of the middle class.
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Antsy toddler kicked off plane at Sea-Tac 
polistra on November 16 at 1:35 p.m.
Use th $500 million to buy out Bugsy Bernanke and replace him with someone who understands basic economics.
The main problem with our economic system in the last 10 years is that we’ve placed rigid price controls on interest. The result is the same when you control the price of anything: shortages, hoarding, black markets and smuggling.
Just eliminate the Fed’s grip on interest rates, eliminate the Fed’s ability to lend money to banks for free, and things will start to move properly again.
Under the current setup, there’s no incentive to save, there’s no incentive for banks to invite savings, and there’s no incentive to avoid borrowing.
With the controls removed, some smart banker will finally figure out that he can encourage savings by paying people to use their money, and he can discourage improper borrowing by charging people for borrowing.
opeled on November 16 at 3:28 p.m.
you might get the irs to view savings as a deduction.. because it is not an income until you spend it
hawken on November 16 at 3:36 p.m.
polistra …. well said…. you beat me to the punch!
Shylock13 on November 16 at 3:56 p.m.
Although I understand the reasoning behind the donation, I have a feeling that the bulk of the money will be spent on the “administration” of the programs (read “ripped off”), rather than the programs themselves, and very little of the funds will actually benefit the poor.