One of the most well-known philanthropists in the world: Michael Bloomberg. In addition to being a successful businessman and former mayor of New York City, Bloomberg has invested his riches in charity causes. Health, education, and the environment have benefited from the philanthropist's donations. Bloomberg has impacted significantly on fighting the effects related to tobacco use, and he has his resources have supported the Centers for Disease Control, as well as World Health Organization, reach out to a huge number of people in their campaigns. Michael Bloomberg is a unique philanthropist who has consistently made donations to support programs aimed at tackling a host of issues that affect humanity. His contributions cover a variety of areas including but not limited to, tobacco, education, obesity, immigration and climate change. Bloomberg made his fortune in the business world after starting the Innovative Market Systems that specialized in providing investors with reliable business information. Before the establishment of the innovative Market systems, Bloomberg had received 10 million dollar severance package when George Soro's Travelers group was acquiring Solomon. Bloomberg is also a former Mayor of New of New York City where he served for three terms.
The contribution of Bloomberg to education
The contribution of Bloomberg to education is significant because his largest donation to a single organization went to John Hopkins and exceeded 1 billion dollars. In partnership with America Achieves, the philanthropist has worked towards sponsoring fellowship programs where educational leaders were the main participants, and it has contributed towards the improvement of education policies. Also in education, Bloomberg was key in sponsoring a program that involved a hundred high schools in the US to compare their competitiveness against schools from other parts of the world using the PISA test. The comparison was the first ever to be carried out in the US.
Bloomberg's donation to John Hopkins and impact on health issues
The donation made by Bloomberg to John Hopkins also touched health issues significantly. Part of the donation was set aside and aided in the establishment of Bloomberg school of public health. Additionally, Bloomberg has been a key player in the campaign towards the control of tobacco that contributes to lung diseases across the world. The philanthropist donated an amount exceeding 165 million dollars to support the World Lung Foundation. Another notable contribution by the philanthropist to health was channeled towards campaigning to ensure that children were free from tobacco. The Centers for Disease Control, as well as the World Health Organization, have also received funding to support programs that aimed to tackle problems that are tobacco-related. From his donations, it is evident that Bloomberg is to a high degree interested in alleviating the problems caused by tobacco to populations across the world. Tanzania, a country located in East Africa has also received support in promoting maternal health through a collaborative approach (Bishop & Green, 2010).
Bloomberg's contribution to environmental conservation
Bloomberg, like many American philanthropists, has contributed significantly towards environmental conservation. In one of his collaborations with the Sierra Club that is running a campaign targeting coal reduction, the philanthropist has committed 50 million dollars to assist in retiring one-third of the aging coal fleet, and he hopes that it will be achieved by the year 2020. The initiative further seeks to speed up the process of adopting cleaner energy (Bloomberg, 2015).
The impact of Bloomberg's philanthropies
A report released by the WHO in 2013 indicated that the number of people covered by at least one of the tobacco control measure had risen by 1.3 billion to a total of 2.3 billion up from the 1 billion covered in 2008. The report serves as some of the evidence on the impact of Bloomberg's philanthropies. The Bloomberg School of public health has been a research hub, and there have been numerous advances in public health including controlling infectious diseases that experts cite to be a contributing factor to the lifespan of the people living in the United States compared to other countries. From the study of Bloomberg's philanthropies, I have learned that some individuals can use their resources to fund programs that affect the entire human race. I now also understand that people with great ideas that can positively impact on humanity should not hesitate to approach resourceful individuals like Bloomberg as they can help in the implementation in any part of the world.
Conclusion
Philanthropists play a key role in supporting governments serve their citizens better by supplementing their efforts. Individuals should learn that they have a greater responsibility to make their contribution however little to make the world a better place.
References
Bloomberg, M. (2015). City century: Why municipalities are the key to fighting climate change. Foreign Aff., 94, 116.
Bishop, M., & Green, M. (2010). Philanthrocapitalism: How giving can save the world. Bloomsbury Publishing USA.
