Bill and Melinda Gates pen love letter to Warren Buffett

Chelsea Huang
Updated

Ten years ago, billionaire investor Warren Buffett generously donated $30 billion to the Bill & Melinda Gates foundation, marking "the biggest single gift anyone ever gave anybody for anything."

Now a decade later, on Valentine's Day of all holidays, Bill and Melinda Gates have dedicated their annual letter to their friend, Buffett, whose donation help propel the foundation to "success" in some of its key charitable initiatives.

"Warren, your gift doubled the foundation's resources. It's allowed us to expand our work in US education, support smallholder farmers, and create financial services for the poor."

The letter was prompted by a request Buffett made in December for the pair to explain the success and motivation of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

In return, the Gates on Tuesday showed Buffett -- and the world -- Buffett's "return on investment."

But it's not all numbers and charts. In addition to stunning facts and figures, the piece also features hand-written anecdotes, like "Who brings McDonald's coupons on vacation? You do, that's who!" when illustrating one of Buffett's "deepest values" -- using resources wisely and never wasting money when it can be avoided.

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While "philanthropy isn't like business," the Gates wrote, and there aren't sales and profits to share, there are numbers that measure the foundation's progress. Here are just a handful of the many highlights detailed in the full letter:

  • 122 million children's lives saved since 1990 - "Saving children's lives is the goal that launched our global work. It's an end in itself. But then we learned it has all these other benefits as well. If parents believe their children will survive—and if they have the power to time and space their pregnancies—they choose to have fewer children," Melinda wrote.

  • 86 percent of children around the world are vaccinated, the highest in history - "And for every dollar spent on childhood immunizations, you get $44 in economic benefits. That includes saving the money that families lose when a child is sick and a parent can't work," Bill wrote.

  • 300 million women in the developing world who use modern contraceptives - "Contraceptives are also one of the greatest antipoverty innovations in history. When women are able to time and space their pregnancies, they are more likely to advance their education and earn an income—and they're more likely to have healthy children," Melinda wrote.

%shareLinks-quote="This is the most exciting, high-stakes work we fund, Warren: solving mysteries to save lives." type="quote" author="Bill Gates" authordesc="" isquoteoftheday="false"%

The Gates also pinpointed some challenges in their work:

  • 1 million babies die on the day they're born - "It's not enough to know that a newborn died from asphyxia or sepsis or prematurity; we need to find out what causes these conditions, so we can find the tools to prevent them. This is the most exciting, high-stakes work we fund, Warren: solving mysteries to save lives," Bill wrote.

  • 45 percent of child deaths are due to malnutrition - "Nutrition is the biggest missed opportunity in global health. It could unleash waves of human potential—yet only 1 percent of foreign aid goes to basic nutrition ... That's why we're funding more research in this area and urging governments to do the same. Big discoveries in nutrition are ahead of us. When the researchers find them, the rise in children who achieve their potential will change the world."

  • Poverty is sexiest - "The poorer the society, the less power women have. Men decide if a woman is allowed to go outside, talk to other women, earn income. Men decide if it's acceptable to strike a woman. The male dominance in the poorest societies is mind-blowing."

Read "Dear Warren" in full here.

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