Sometimes you can have "more money than you know what to do with." Due to the necessity of giving away at least five percent of the organization's assets per year, the staff of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation are working hard to keep up as the largest foundation in the world, according to the Oregonian newspaper of Portland, Ore.

The foundation's assets -- which recently grew to $21.8 billion -- are forcing the staff to find ways to use at least $1 billion for charitable causes this year, an amount that averages $2.7 million a day.

The foundation works with a lean staff: 160 employees, most of whom work on Gates' initiative to equip libraries in North America for the technology age. By comparison, the Ford Foundation -- another of the world's wealthiest -- employs 600 staff members, the Oregonian reports.

The Gates foundation has so far made more long-range giving plans toward larger national and international causes, such as putting computers in libraries, supplying scholarships for minority students and vaccinating children around the world, the newspaper reports.

However, another mission for the foundation -- helping out charitable causes in the Pacific Northwest -- has not been made as clear at this point, the Oregonian reports.

"Everybody is really interested in how they access the foundation, but it remains a black box for us until more of their programs are fleshed out," Michael Beneke -- of Seattle's NPower -- told the newspaper. "I'm sure their impact, wherever they chose to direct it, will be phenomenal."

In the final three months of last year, local causes were the prime beneficiaries of a "flurry" of giving, the newspaper reports. Large gifts included $30 million for the United Way of King County, $10 million to the Seattle Art Museum and $3 million to the University of Washington's computer science department. There were dozens of smaller gifts as well.

The foundation has developed a reputation among local groups for the simplicity and speed of its giving, the newspaper reports. Some gift recipients have been amazed at the foundation's responsiveness and the lack of conditions attached to gifts. Checks often arrive in the mail with only a one-sentence note attached, the newspaper reports.

The foundation's sheer size, power and speed worries some critics, the Oregonian reports. In an editorial for the Chronicle of Philanthropy, Barbara Dudley suggested that the foundation's clout could end up allowing Gates to bypass the political system to enact his own agenda -- such as technology in the classroom.

Pablo Eisenberg, a founder of the National Committee for Responsive Philanthropy, says he is concerned the organization is too closed and does not have a wide enough pool of advisers to help determine regional needs.

"Most of the nonprofit world has little or no access to it," Eisenberg told the Oregonian.

The scope of the foundation's giving has garnered praise, as well. On Nelson Mandela's visit to Seattle, he cited Gates' willingness to share his wealth, saying the United States was "very lucky" to have such people.

As for the future, the Gates Foundation will most likely still concentrate on health and human service issues, Jack Faris -- director of community strategies for the organization -- told the newspaper.

Giving in the Northwest will remain steady as well, Faris says. However, the foundation wants to become more strategic in its regional gifts and is currently working on a secret project Faris describes only as "big."

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