Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), previously branded as the 'William H. Gates Foundation', is a private foundation founded by Bill and Melinda Gates. It was launched in 2000, and is said to be the largest private foundation in the United States, holding $50.7 billion in assets. The primary aims of the foundation are, globally, to enhance healthcare and reduce extreme poverty, and, in the US, to expand educational opportunities and access to information technology. The foundation, based in Seattle, Washington, is controlled by its three trustees: Bill and Melinda Gates, and Warren Buffett. Other
USS Thomas S. Gates and other personal business. The Navy decommissioned "Thomas S. Gates" on 15 December 2005, four months earlier than the planned March 2006 date, and after serving only 18 years in the active fleet. She was stricken the same date and was berthed at the Naval Inactive Ship Maintenance Facility in Philadelphia, PA as of 2014. As of 2008, she was slated to be dismantled in the next five years along with her sisters and . As of July 2014, NAVSEA planned to place ex-"Thomas S. Gates" and ex-"Ticonderoga" up for bid to scrappers via the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA). DLA