"This is not a job for her,"
says Vartan Gregorian, president of the Carnegie
Corp. "It's a mission." Gregorian,
then president of Brown University, first met
Stonesifer in the mid-'90s. Stonesifer, from an
office above a pizza parlor in Redmond, Wash.,
Microsoft's hometown, was spearheading the
Gateses' first major philanthropic
undertaking--a project to connect public libraries
nationwide to the Internet. That and later ventures
succeeded because of Stonesifer's even keel,
Gregorian says. "She has a very healthy ego;
she gives credit to subordinates," he says.
"And I don't extend praise like this for
anybody."
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Stonesifer can remember the
effects of organized philanthropy from her
childhood. She was born and raised in Indianapolis,
the sixth of nine children. The Lilly Endowment, now
the second-largest U.S. foundation with assets of
$10 billion, helped her father run a soup kitchen in
the city. "Lilly did a lot in
Indianapolis," she recalls. Stonesifer is quick
to credit it and other grant makers for laying the
groundwork for today's crop of big donors.
"I'll bet 10 of [Gates's] health
initiatives are based on Rockefeller programs,"
she says.
Indeed, the Gates library project
could be viewed as a modern-day update of steel
magnate Andrew Carnegie's building of public
libraries a century ago. Standing in her office,
Stonesifer proudly points to a pin-studded map that
marks the location of every U.S. library that has
been wired to the Web. There are personal elements
in the office, too. Behind her tidy desk is a candid
of her husband, the political columnist and former
head of the Microsoft-funded online journal
Slate, Michael Kinsley; her two college-age
children by a previous marriage are also featured.
Despite the pressure to bore through grant proposals
and her responsibilities as a board member of Viacom
and the Smithsonian, Stonesifer says she makes time
to read for pleasure. For her book group, she has
been enjoying Ian McEwan's Atonement.
A 1982 Indiana University graduate, Stonesifer was
editor-in-chief at a computer-book publisher in
Indianapolis when Microsoft tapped her to work in
its book division in 1988. Ultimately, she led the
firm's interactive media division, where she
launched MSNBC and the Encarta online research tool.
She then headed for new ventures at Steven
Spielberg's DreamWorks entertainment company.
But with the library project as bait, Bill Gates
lured her back. "I made a commitment for four
years. I'm now in my seventh year," she
says with a hint of disbelief.
In lacking the
Gates name, Stonesifer stands out among the
foundation's leadership. Unlike its
counterparts--the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie
Corp., the Lilly Endowment, etc.--the Gates
Foundation's benefactors are alive and
hands-on. On the day before Stonesifer's Tacoma
visit, Melinda Gates, also a former Microsoft
executive, spent the entire day in the office
working on education projects. A few weeks before,
her husband had appeared in New York City for the
unveiling of a $51 million grant to create 67 small
public high schools. "They're very much
involved," says Stonesifer. Bill Gates is
listed as the foundation's sole trustee,
overseeing hiring and program selection. Most large
grant makers have a half-dozen or more outside
trustees.
