Metro

Mike storming the ‘Gates’ as a top donor

Mayor Bloomberg, who toiled for decades to become the city’s wealthiest man, is now building a financial operation to give away his billions — prompting him to say that only Microsoft founder Bill Gates has given away more of his own money.

“Other than Gates, nobody’s given away this amount of money,” Bloomberg said at a Post editorial board meeting last week.

The seeds of the structure for the Bloomberg Family Foundation are being laid more aggressively now, with a 19-member board in place, a newly renovated headquarters and what’s believed to be about a dozen staffers.

It has launched initiatives in nearly 20 countries, looking at issues from tobacco use in Bangladesh to traffic safety in Kenya.

Its 2008, public filings for charities show the foundation had about $1.6 billion on hand.

The foundation will assume the role of handing out grants to local cultural groups that have relied on the handouts from Bloomberg for the past eight years.

Foundation officials declined all requests for comment, or for a chance to tour their facility on East 78th Street off Madison Avenue, just around the corner from the mayor’s home.

Bloomberg said the perceived ramp-up isn’t a major change from his giving over the years.

“The only thing new is that we’re moving into a new building [and we’ve] put in an outside board, because I don’t have the time or the expertise” to manage the larger-scale components he’s moving toward funding.

maggie.haberman@nypost.com