To mark its 25th anniversary, the Gates Foundation has made a fresh commitment to accelerating its mission to help everyone live healthy, productive lives by spending $200 billion over the next 20 years.
The Gates Foundation said it was to accelerate progress on saving and improving lives with its ambitious goals, inspired by donating most of his resources and setting a new timeline to spend down by 2045.
The decision marks a significant acceleration in the foundation’s work and sets a new date of 2045 to sunset its operations.
Foundation chair Bill Gates shared the historic announcement in a post, representing modern history‘s most crucial philanthropic commitment.
“There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people. That is why I have decided to give my money back to society much faster than I had originally planned,” writes Gates. “I will give away virtually all my wealth through the Gates Foundation over the next 20 years to the cause of saving and improving lives worldwide.”
The board of directors affirmed the accelerated timeline with a change to the foundation’s charter, which had said the organisation would sunset 20 years after Gates’ death. The funding pledged exceeds the foundation’s current endowment, with the balance coming over time from Gates’ fortune.
“I began to rethink that [timeline] a few years ago. More recently, with the input from our board, I now believe we can achieve the foundation’s goals on a shorter timeline, especially if we double down on key investments and provide more certainty to our partners,” writes Gates.
While the foundation’s strategies are not changing, over the next two decades, the foundation will work together with its partners to make as much progress as possible towards three primary goals: Help end preventable deaths of moms and babies; ensure the next generation grows up without having to suffer from deadly infectious diseases; lift millions of people out of poverty, putting them on a path to prosperity.
“During the first 25 years of the Gates Foundation—powered in part by the generosity of Warren Buffett—we gave away more than $100 billion,” writes Gates. “Over the next two decades, we will double our giving. The exact amount will depend on the markets and inflation, but I expect the foundation will spend more than $200 billion between now and 2045. This figure includes the balance of the endowment and my future contributions.”
The shift in the sunset date is driven by urgency and opportunity. The foundation hopes to capitalise on the extraordinary global progress in health and development between 2000 and 2025.
When child deaths were halved, deaths from deadly infectious diseases were significantly reduced, and hundreds of millions of people rose out of poverty.
Since 2000, the Gates Foundation has saved 82 million lives by supporting Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. Together with its partners, the foundation also helped develop more than 100 innovations, including vaccines, diagnostic tools, and treatments designed to meet the needs of people in low- and middle-income countries. Taken together, these innovations—and the people who made them possible— helped change the trajectory of global health. Still, there are hundreds more innovations in the pipeline.
“The needs at this time are greater than any we’ve seen in the foundation‘s lifetime, but the achievements of the past 25 years have shown the tremendous progress that is still possible,” said Mark Suzman, CEO and board member of the Gates Foundation. “That’s why, in the next two decades, working in close collaboration with our partners, we’ll deploy these innovations and apply 25 years of learnings and progress to making an even bigger difference.“
This announcement comes amidst multiple years of stagnant or, in some cases, backsliding progress on global health metrics. Governments around the world have announced tens of billions of dollars in cuts to aid funding that stand to have devastating consequences for the world’s poorest people.
At the same time, scientific breakthroughs, powerful innovations, and new tools—from vaccines to AI—are creating opportunities to save and improve lives faster than ever before.
“There have never been more opportunities to help people live healthier, more prosperous lives. Technological advances are happening faster than ever, especially with artificial intelligence on the rise,” writes Gates. “Even with all the challenges that the world faces, I’m optimistic about our ability to make progress—because each breakthrough is yet another chance to make someone’s life better.”
The 20-year timeline also allows the foundation to further its work strengthening the philanthropic sector. This concerted effort aims to ensure the institutions that outlast it, from nonprofits to local health institutions to multilateral partnerships, have the runway they need to plan for the future.
Earlier this year, the foundation announced its largest budget, which aligns with its commitment to reaching annual distributions of US$9 billion next year.
We’ve got the edge. Get real-time reports, breaking scoops, and exclusive angles delivered straight to your phone. Don’t settle for stale news. Join LEADERSHIP NEWS on WhatsApp for 24/7 updates →
Join Our WhatsApp Channel
