Bill Gates announced the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation will be sunsetting and then closing in 2045 and between now and then focusing on preventable diseases, infectious diseases and poverty around the world. The announcement was made via his platform Gates Notes. “My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth.”
“During the first 25 years of the Gates Foundation, we gave away more than $100 billion. Over the next two decades, we will double our giving,” according to the statement. According to its 2023 financial data, the foundation has total assets of $76.9 billion with net assets of $70.4 billion. The data showed roughly 2,100 employees and more than 11,700 grantees.
Gates, who turns 70 in October, wrote that the plan is for his personal net worth to go to just 1% of his current $108 billion. “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 around the world. And on December 31, 2045, the foundation will close its doors permanently,” he wrote.
Gates admitted that the plan is ambitious. “And although I am hopeful we will achieve them, I cannot ignore a simple truth: None of this progress is possible without partnership from governments.”
There will be three priorities, he wrote: 1. No mom, child, or baby dies of a preventable cause. 2. The next generation grows up in a world without deadly infectious diseases. 3. Hundreds of millions of people break free from poverty, putting more countries on a path to prosperity. Gates write that we did much reading when coming to the decision.
“One of the best things I read was an 1889 essay by Andrew Carnegie called The Gospel of Wealth. It makes the case that the wealthy have a responsibility to return their resources to society, a radical idea at the time that laid the groundwork for philanthropy as we know it today,” he wrote. The plan is for his person net worth to go to just 1% of his current $108 billion net worth. “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 around the world. And on December 31, 2045, the foundation will close its doors permanently.”
During the next 20 years, “the foundation will work together with our partners to make as much progress towards our vision of a more equitable world as possible,” he wrote. The truth is, there have never been more opportunities to help people live healthier, more prosperous lives. Advances in technology are happening faster than ever, especially with artificial intelligence on the rise. 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.
Amir Pasic, Ph.D., the Eugene R. Tempel Dean of the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy, said that Gates is heeding the warnings of past major philanthropists. “Seeking to avoid Carnegie’s warning about the disgrace of dying rich, Bill Gates is focusing his foundation on an accelerated pay-down, tackling key obstacles to global human dignity through a focus on a few strategic priorities where it has established expertise,” said Pasic.
