An Open Letter to the Patty Stonesifer, CEO of the Gates Foundation
Dear Ms. Stonesifer,
I am greatly appreciative of the current mission and future vision of the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation and your work to improve the quality and dignity of life around the world.
Nevertheless, I must say I was very distressed to read an article posted in The CRO in which you state "... But it is naive to suggest that an individual stockholder can stop that suffering. Changes in our investment practices would have little or no impact on these issues. While shareholder activism has worthwhile goals, we believe a much more direct way to help people is by making grants and working with other donors to improve health, reduce poverty and strengthen education.”
I am in strong disagreement. Making an investment in an entity that is achieving equity value by externalizing its costs to society, or harming people and/or planet, or plundering our resources essentially acts to neutralize the work and mission of the Foundation. For example, if the Foundation expends capital to assist the people of Bhopal, India that continue to suffer the after-effects of the Union Carbide incident, while investing in Dow Chemical you are providing investment incentives to potentially perpetuate egregious corporate behavior while providing limited medical benefits to those survivors that suffer the harm caused by beneficiaries of your capital investment. While I certainly understand you have an important fiduciary responsibility to provide the Foundation with a strong ROI to continue to fund your vision, there should be no tolerance for societal harm within the Foundation, through its work or investment. I am hopeful that you reconsider the investment strategy for the Foundation and invest in entities that are internalizing costs and properly balancing people, planet and profit.
Kind Regards,
George A. Polisner
Founder and CEO, alonovo.com
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
