In 2015, they donated $298 million, primarily for education and research in math and science, making them the tenth-biggest givers of the year (the list only counts money disbursed, not pledged gifts or funds parked in a foundation).
M.C.C.'s work should therefore be measured not only by dollars disbursed, but also by expanding the ability of the recipient country to take ownership of the project, commit to its sustainability, and involve its people in the process.
In Kisii, the resource team was not only well funded but worked within an efficient system of disbursing funds for implementation.
He wrote, "That Magazines can live, and not only live but thrive, and not only thrive but afford to disburse money for original contributions, are facts which can only be solved, under the circumstances, by the really fanciful but still agreeable supposition, that there is somewhere still existing an ember not altogether quenched among the fires of good feeling for letters and literary men".
Not only is Mr Buffett giving away the bulk of his fortune, but he is also handing it to the Gates Foundation, reasoning that the Microsoft founder and his wife would do a better job of disbursing it.
When these merchants do charge sales tax, not only do they often lose price battles against pure e-tailers; they must also invest in high-price tax software, so they can calculate, collect and then disburse sales taxes for nearly every purchase.
In 1990, its first year, £70m was disbursed, but only 28% of students applied.
Mr Bush initially promised $5 billion a year to fund the MCC, but it has so far disbursed only $400,000.
The UN's Least developed countries fund has disbursed only $47m in seven years.
The Federal Housing Administration's short refinance program, which received $8.1 billion in bailout funds, has disbursed only sixty million dollars.
