The Gates Millennium Scholars Program, established in 1999, was initially funded by a $1 billion grant from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The program has awarded over $845,713,056 in scholarships between the 2000-2014 academic years.
It was recently featured on the TV program 60 Minutes:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nstZKYSEgAk
KCOB Gerald Hector was the Corporate Controller for the United Negro College Fund when Bill Gates announced the scholarship program. He was on the team that crafted the financial framework for this once in a lifetime scholarship program. He was responsible for developing pro formas and models as well as the inaugural budget.
Hector recalls that it was “an awesome team effort among several groups and organizations to pull it off.”
He still has the first budget that was submitted.
The Gates Scholarship is a highly selective, full scholarship for exceptional, Pell-eligible, minority, high school seniors. Starting in 2018, the scholarship will be awarded to 300 top student leaders each year with the intent of promoting their academic excellence through college graduation, and providing them the opportunity to reach their full potential.