Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer wants his wealth to help families here at home in the US

The Ballmer Group doesn't publicly release its total grant budget either, the amount of money it pledges to give away. Forbes estimates that it's currently on track to give away at least $500 million based on the multi-million philanthropy pledges his foundation has announced. This includes a $37 million pledge to the University of Washington School of Social work, $11 million for scholarships to Washington residents in STEM fields, a $50 million pledge to the University of Oregon for scholarships and obesity prevention, and about $60 million to Harvard's computer science facility.

That means he's not trying to solve world poverty, bring fresh water to Africa, bring the internet to the farthest reaches of South America, or save species in the polar regions from going extinct. Though he thinks such efforts are admirable, Ballmer's goal is to make the American dream available to American kids who are shut out of it today.

"Every kid deserves an opportunity. Not every kid really has it," Ballmer told Business Insider. "If you have a rich parent, you are going to have a better opportunity than someone who has a very poor parent. But some people's opportunity, the chance that they will be higher up on the economic rung than their parents, is almost predestined at birth," he says.

Research shows that kids born to the poorest 20% of the nation have a 50% chance that they will remain that poor their whole lives, he says, citing Raj Chetty's research at the Equality of Opportunity Project.

Ballmer realizes that he's not going to singularly solve American poverty, so he's narrowed his focus to role-model projects in the Seattle area, home of Microsoft; Ballmer's hometown Detroit area; and LA, home of the Clippers. He's also a fan of funding not-for-profit agencies that mostly rely on government grants to do community work. He jokingly calls these agencies "government contractors," in contrast to the military contractors people usually think about when you use the term.

One of Ballmer's favorite examples of what he's trying to accomplish is a grant to support a community policing project at Harvard Park, a housing project in south LA. With the grant funding, individual policeman will be embedded in the community doing social work — everything from youth programs to

While the program will ultimately be funded by the police department and tax dollars, the program needed some "startup money" to expand, he said. When the former gang member who is shepherding this project talked to Ballmer, he asked if one of the community projects could be to "bring back midnight basketball to the Harvard gym." Ballm

As to how he and his wife share the responsibility of running the foundation, which was her domain for many years, Ballmer diplomatically calls it a partnership, hinting that she basically told him he wasn't going to spend his whole time playing golf — he belongs to a long list of exclusive golf clubs, plus travels the world to play — leaving her to continue running it on her own.

"She came to me and said, 'Come-on dude,' I was feeling a little lazy at the time," he laughs. "I have referred to myself as her wing man. And she's said, 'No you’re not. You're in the front seat with me.'"

Microsoft billionaire Steve Ballmer wants his wealth to help families here at home in the US

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