Philanthrocapitalism is an attempt to use market processes to do good, and therefore problematic as markets are ill-suited to producing socially constructive ends. Advocates of philanthrocapitalism often expect financial returns or secondary benefits over the long term from their investments in social programs. Philanthropy becomes another part of the engine of profit and corporate control.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) provides more aid to global health than any country donor and is the fifth largest donor to agriculture in developing countries. In 2013, only 11 countries spent more on aid than the BMGF, making it the world's 12th largest donor. The Gates Foundation has become a bigger donor than countries such as Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Ireland and Italy.
The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s strategy for 'development’ actually promotes neoliberal economic policies and corporate globalization. in 2020, Gates monopolizes or wields disproportional influence over the tech industry, global health and vaccines, agriculture and food policy (including biopiracy and fake food), weather modification and other climate technologies, surveillance, education and media. For example, a major mechanism by which the Gates Foundation exercises influence over agriculture is through its funding of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). Its work with Monsanto and other multinational agricultural corporations directly undermines existing grassroots efforts at improving African agricultural production. The Foundation favours industrial agricultural paradigms which view African hunger as a business opportunity. It has targeted the world's poor as presenting 'a fast-growing consumer market'.
Charity can certainly help promote development, but when this approach becomes the development model, as it will tend to when "donors" have so much influence over policies, the "poor" become dependent on the "rich", and the latter are seen as saviours while the poor are simply recipients of favours. In this sense, philanthropy is the enemy of justice.
The World Bank and the UN funded 400 scientists over three years to compile the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). Its conclusions in 2009 were diametrically opposed, at both philosophical and practical levels, to those espoused by Gates. It recommended research that 'would focus on local priorities identified through participatory and transparent processes, and favour multifunctional solutions to local problems', and it concluded that biotechnology alone will not solve the food needs of Africa. The IAASTD suggests that 'agroecological' methods, not industrial farming models, provide the most viable, proven and reliable means to enhance global food security, especially in light of climate change. These include implementing practical scientific research based on traditional ecological approaches, so farmers avoid disrupting the natural carbon, nitrogen and water cycles as conventional agriculture has done.