Crossing the River Jordan Award

Previous Winners

Bill & Melinda Gates (2000)
Bill Gates is one of the world’s richest men, and the company he founded, Microsoft, is one of the world’s best-known brand names. At a surprisingly young age, he has begun to give away an astounding amount of money. While corporate giants of the past tended to give away their fortunes late in life, Bill Gates, in partnership with his wife Melinda, has taken an active role in making sure that his wealth has an impact here and now. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, with assets of over $20 billion, has rapidly grown to become the largest grant making foundation in the United States. And it has done so entirely through the personal gifts of its namesakes.

Headquartered in Seattle, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation focuses on global health, education, libraries, and public access to information. The foundation is dedicated to improving lives by sharing advances in health and learning with the global community. It has provided hundreds of millions of dollars to global public health initiatives, including immunization efforts, and supported numerous related programs throughout the United States and around the world. In the area of education, the foundation has pledged over $350 million to improve public schools, especially in the Pacific Northwest, in addition to funding literacy and educational equity initiatives. Equal access to technology to overcome the so-called “digital divide” has also been a major priority of the foundation, which also launched a minority scholarship initiative in 2000.

In recognition of their generosity, their substantial contribution to the welfare of people around the world, and for their commitment to improving America’s public schools, Public Education Network presented the Crossing the River Jordan Award to Bill and Melinda Gates. Tom Van der Ark, Director of Education for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, accepted the award on behalf of Mr. and Mrs. Gates.