By Uriel Ihotu
Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates has announced plans to give away nearly all of his estimated $200 billion fortune over the next 20 years, leaving just one percent for his family. This monumental pledge will be carried out through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which is set to close its doors permanently on December 31, 2045.
In a reflective blog post on Gates Notes, Gates declared his commitment to philanthropy, stating, “People will say a lot of things about me when I die, but I am determined that ‘he died rich’ will not be one of them. There are too many urgent problems to solve for me to hold onto resources that could be used to help people.”
Gates revealed that only about $1.6 billion—a mere one percent of his wealth—will be reserved for his family, potentially benefiting his three children: Phoebe, Rory, and Jennifer. The rest will be directed towards addressing global challenges in health, education, and poverty alleviation.
Since its inception in 2000, the Gates Foundation has spent over $100 billion on global development projects, including breakthroughs in health care and disease prevention. Notably, the foundation’s partnerships with Gavi and the Global Fund have contributed to saving over 80 million lives. It also supported the development of a rotavirus vaccine that significantly reduced child deaths from diarrhea by 75%.
Explaining his decision to accelerate the foundation’s spending, Gates shared in an interview with the Associated Press, “I think 20 years is the right balance between giving as much as we can to make progress on these things and giving people a lot of notice that now this money will be gone.”
The move marks a shift from the foundation’s original plan to sunset several decades after his death, highlighting Gates’ urgency to tackle pressing global issues within his lifetime.
4o
