Bloomberg Joins Gates to Mark a Trend

More noteworthy than Bloomberg's $125 million pledge to build an anti-smoking campaign is the trend it heralds in which "philanthropic strategy" becomes a discipline worthy of the greatest minds of American business.

By joining Bill Gates in stepping toward life as a full-time philanthropist committed to solving to the planet's most deeply entrenched social problems , Bloomberg becomes a "first mover" in a field whose strategies have until now largely unfolded within the very cloistered world of foundation board rooms.

Given Bloomberg Media's explosive reach, maybe the day is soon coming when the average Joe has a sense that some charitable dollars are spent better than others and when New York Time's readers can name both the president of a private foundation and the strategies she advocates to achieve social change.

Susan Herr