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Has the Gates Foundation bitten off more than it can chew?

Alexander Russo thinks out loud about the Gates/Buffett philanthropic leviathan:

I wonder — as many others probably do — how the new money is going to be divided between education and health. Whatever the division, I wonder whether an even bigger amount of money to give away every year will help the program folks at Gates, or pressurize their thinking in ways that won’t help them think and act as wisely as possible.

Here’s why I’m optimistic.  If Gates ran Microsoft–a much bigger organization than the Gates Foundation will ever be–successfully, I imagine he’ll get the hang of philanthropy.  And Buffett’s natural skepticism, and ability to pick winners, is legendary.  If he says the Gates Foundation is a safe bet, I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. 

Yes, the organization has problems–as Russo notes, the foundation is only at 300 staffers, which probably wasn’t enough before the Buffett Bonanza came into the picture.  And they’ve made more than a few missteps so far.  But I imagine they’ll get the kinks worked out soon enough.