Thalia Beaty, Associated Press
SEATTLE (AP) — Bill Gates says he will donate 99% of his remaining technical assets to the Gates Foundation. Today, it is worth an estimated $107 billion.
This pledge is one of the greatest charity gifts ever. It outweighs the historical contributions of industrialists like John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie in line with inflation. Only the pledge of Berkshire Hathaway investor Warren Buffett to donate his fortune (currently estimated at $160 billion by Forbes) could grow in response to stock market fluctuations.
Gates’ donations will be delivered over time, allowing the foundation to spend another $200 billion over the next 20 years.
“It’s so thrilling to be able to put it in these causes,” Gates said in an interview with the Associated Press.
His announcement on Thursday shows both these causes, particularly the promise of sustainable support for the US global health and education, and the ultimate end to the foundation’s enormous global impact. Using his wealth now helps save and improve many lives, Gates said. It also makes it more likely that his intentions will be respected.
“I think 20 years is the right balance between giving as much as possible to advance these things and realizing that so many people have left this money,” Gates said.
In its own league
For a long time, the Gates Foundation has been unparalleled among the foundations. It has captivated supporters and detractors, as well as many unfounded conspiracy theories.
In addition to spending $100 billion since it was founded 25 years ago, it led scientific research, helped develop new technologies, and nurtured long-term partnerships with countries and businesses.
About 41% of the foundation’s money so far comes from Warren Buffett, with the rest from Fortunegate, made by Microsoft.
Started in 2000 by Bill and Melinda French Gates, the foundation plays a key role in shaping global health policies, opening up a special niche by partnering with businesses to reduce the costs of medical care that low- and middle-income countries can afford.
“The basics have had a much more impact than I expected,” Gates says, calling his second final career.
The Foundation’s impact on global health, from the World Health Organization to the research agenda, is both a measure of its success and a magnet of criticism. For years, researchers have asked why wealthy families should be so shaky about how the world improves people’s health and responds to the crisis.
Gates said, like other civilians, he could choose how to spend the money he earned and decided to do everything he could to reduce childhood deaths.
“Is that a bad thing? Isn’t it a significant cause? People can criticize it,” he said, but the foundation clings to its global health activities.
The Associated Press receives financial support for African news coverage from the Gates Foundation and for news coverage of the workforce and state housing at Melinda French Gates organization Pivotal Ventures.
Great ambitions for the remaining 20 years
According to UN figures, the foundation’s most respected indicator is the reduction in childhood deaths from preventable causes between 2000 and 2020. Foundation CEO Mark Suzman has been cautiously saying he doesn’t trust the achievement. However, he believes they have a “catalytic role.” For example, helping children get vaccines through Gavi, the vaccine alliance they created.
The foundation still has many goals – eradicating polio, controlling other deadly diseases like malaria, and reducing malnutrition make children more vulnerable to other diseases.
By spending to address these issues now, Gates hopes that wealthy donors will be free to tackle other issues later.
The Gates Foundation had planned to close 20 years after Gates’ death. In other words, today’s announcement is progressing significantly through that timetable. Gates, who is 69, admitted that she may not have the right to say, but plans to remain engaged.
Over the remaining 20 years, the foundation will maintain a budget of around $9 billion a year. This has been levelled from almost annual growth since 2006 when Buffett first began giving.
Suzman hopes the foundation will focus on top of its priorities.
“Having that time horizon and resources puts an even greater strain on us by saying, ‘Are you actually defeating your resources, or rather than being too thin, do you defeat your resources, rather than becoming the most successful bet?”,” Suzuman said.
Gates is the remaining founder
There was a major change in the foundation’s 25th year before.
In 2021, Melinda French Gates and Bill Gates divorced, and Buffett resigned as the foundation’s trustee. They recruited a new council to govern the foundation, and in 2024 Gates of France left to continue his work in her own organization.
France’s Gates said she decided to partially step down to focus on countering the rollback of women’s rights in the US at the ELLE Women of Impact event in New York in April.
“I trusted Mark Suzman, my current CEO,” she said. “We had boards set up, so I knew their value.”
Despite the foundation’s stable governance, the path ahead appears difficult. The enduring conflict between Ukraine and Gaza, global economic disruption and reductions in foreign aid are predicted to reduce resources leading to global health and development.
“The biggest uncertainty for us is generosity to become globally healthy,” Gates said. “Will we continue to go down like we did in the last few years, or can we get it back where it should be?”
Even in the face of these obstacles, Gate and the Foundation frequently point to the innovations they have funded, as they often do, and the ways they have helped them reduce the costs of care.
“It’s incredible to come up with these low-cost things, and it’s tragic if you can’t put them out to everyone who needs them,” Gates said. “So we’ll need to renew the commitment of those who have plenty of time off to help those with the greatest need.”
Associated Press’ philanthropy and nonprofit coverage is supported through collaborations with the Associated Press and Conversation US, along with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. AP is solely responsible for this content. For all AP charity matters, please visit https://apnews.com/hub/philanthropy.
Original issue: May 8, 2025 8:36am EDT
