Editing Gates Foundation (section)

===Calls for divestment===
{{See also|Financial endowment#Divestment campaigns and impact investing}}
The foundation trust invests undistributed assets, with the exclusive goal of maximizing the [[return on investment]]. As a result, its investments include companies that have been criticized for worsening poverty in the same developing countries where the foundation is attempting to relieve poverty.<ref name=":6" /><ref>[http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/9/report_gates_foundation_causing_harm_with Report: Gates Foundation Causing Harm With the Same Money It Uses To Do Good] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111107062747/http://www.democracynow.org/2007/1/9/report_gates_foundation_causing_harm_with |date=November 7, 2011 }}, Democracy Now!, January 9, 2007</ref> These include companies that pollute heavily and pharmaceutical companies that do not sell into the developing world.<ref>{{cite news |title=Dark cloud over good works of Gates Foundation |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story |work=Los Angeles Times |date=January 7, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070108140548/https://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-gatesx07jan07,0,6827615.story |archive-date=January 8, 2007}}</ref>
In response to press criticism, in 2007 the foundation announced a review of its investments to assess social responsibility.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003517601_gatesinvest10.html|title=Gates Foundation to review investments|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070516015458/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003517601_gatesinvest10.html |archive-date=May 16, 2007|work=The Seattle Times|date=January 10, 2007}}</ref> It subsequently canceled the review and stood by its policy of investing for maximum return, while using voting rights to influence company practices.<ref>{{cite news|title=Gates Foundation to maintain its investment plan|work=The Austin Statesman|date=January 14, 2007}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-gates-foundations-investments-are-undermining-its-own-good-works/|title=How the Gates Foundation's Investments Are Undermining Its Own Good Works|first=Charles|last=Piller|date=August 22, 2014|magazine=The Nation |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602043909/https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/how-gates-foundations-investments-are-undermining-its-own-good-works/ |archive-date= Jun 2, 2023 }}</ref>

Critics have called on the Gates Foundation to [[Financial endowment#Divestment campaigns and impact investing|divest]] from the [[GEO Group]], the second-largest private prison corporation in the United States. A large part of the prison's work involves incarcerating and detaining migrants that have been detained by the [[Presidency of Barack Obama|Obama administration]] and the [[First presidency of Donald Trump|Trump administration]].<ref name="prisonlegalnews.org">{{cite news|author=Joe Watson|title=Demonstrators Protest Gates Foundation's $2.2 Million Investment in GEO Group|work=Prison Legal News|date=July 6, 2016|url=https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2016/jul/6/demonstrators-protest-gates-foundations-22-million-investment-geo-group/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230408183842/https://www.prisonlegalnews.org/news/2016/jul/6/demonstrators-protest-gates-foundations-22-million-investment-geo-group/ |archive-date= Apr 8, 2023 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Geren |first=Tony |date=August 28, 2015 |title=Revealed: Bill Gates invests billions in fast food, private prison and oil companies |url=http://www.iamawake.co/revealed-bill-gates-invests-billions-in-fast-food-private-prison-and-oil-companies/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703002429/https://www.iamawake.co/revealed-bill-gates-invests-billions-in-fast-food-private-prison-and-oil-companies/ |archive-date=Jul 3, 2022 |website=I Am Awake}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|author=Madison Pauly|title=A Brief History of America's Private Prison Industry|website=Mother Jones|date=July–August 2016|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/history-of-americas-private-prison-industry-timeline/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230627080318/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2016/06/history-of-americas-private-prison-industry-timeline/ |archive-date= Jun 27, 2023 }}</ref> In spring 2014, the Gates Foundation acknowledged its $2.2 million investment in the prison corporation.<ref>{{cite news|author=Lael Henterly|title=Gates Foundation resists pressure to pull private prison investment|work=The Seattle Globalist|date=May 8, 2014|url=http://www.seattleglobalist.com/2014/05/08/gates-foundation-private-prison-investments-geo-nwdc/24430 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230419013952/https://seattleglobalist.com/2014/05/08/gates-foundation-private-prison-investments-geo-nwdc/24430 |archive-date= Apr 19, 2023 }}</ref> It rebuffed critics' request that it sever investment ties with the prison corporation. It has refused to comment on whether it is continuing its investments, as of 2016.<ref name="prisonlegalnews.org"/><ref>{{cite web|author=Alex Park|title=Is the Gates Foundation Still Investing in Private Prisons?|website=Mother Jones|date=December 8, 2014|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/gates-foundation-still-investing-private-prisons/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230617065424/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/12/gates-foundation-still-investing-private-prisons/ |archive-date= Jun 17, 2023 }}</ref>