Bill and Melinda Gates have spent billions to drive their agenda on education and other issues. Now, they have created a lobbying group to push even more.
You’ve got to hand it to them: Bill and Melinda Gates don’t give up.
For a few decades now, the Gateses have spent billions of dollars to push pet education projects they believed would improve public schools. Bill Gates has conceded that none worked as he had hoped — and critics say some have been counterproductive.
But the couple keeps trying — and now they have found a new way to try to push their agenda and have even more influence on public policy.
The Hill has reported that the couple has created an entity they are calling the Gates Policy Initiative, a lobbying organization headed by Rob Nabors, a director at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation who served as White House director of legislative affairs under President Barack Obama.
The initiative, the Hill said, will concentrate on global health and development; education — specifically improving educational achievement of black, Latino and rural students; and lifting people out of poverty and into jobs.
The policy shop will be independent from the foundation, which they have used to further education projects including support for Common Core State Standards. The Gates Policy Initiative will be a 501(c) (4) initiative under the U.S. tax code, which is different from the couple’s foundation, a 501(c) (3).
Both 501(c) (3) and 501(c) (4) organizations are tax-exempt from federal income taxes, but they can’t do the same things. According to the IRS, a 501(c) (3) organization is considered “charitable” and “may not attempt CONTINUE READING: Bill and Melinda Gates have spent billions to drive their agenda on education and other issues. Now, they have created a lobbying group to push even more. - The Washington Post
