Billionaire Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates — the 13th-richest man in the world — says he will donate 99 per cent of his remaining tech fortune to the Gates Foundation, which is set to shutter in 2045, earlier than initially planned.
Gates’ current assets are valued at $113.5 billion USD, according to Forbes. His pledge is among the largest ever made, surpassing those of John D. Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie, when adjusted for inflation.
Only Berkshire Hathaway investor Warren Buffett’s promise to donate his earnings, currently estimated by Forbes at $160 billion, may be larger depending on stock market fluctuations.
The donation is set to be allocated over time and will allow the foundation, which Gates and his ex-wife Melinda French Gates started together in 2000, to spend an additional $200 billion over the next two decades.
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The foundation already has an endowment of $77 billion built from donations from Gates, French Gates and Buffett, amounting to 41 per cent of the foundation’s money.
“It’s kind of thrilling to have that much to be able to put into these causes,” Gates said in an interview with The Associated Press.
The tech mogul has long been pumping his billions into combating global health crises and funding education in the U.S. The Gates Foundation is heavily invested in efforts to eradicate polio, financially backing vaccine development and distribution efforts, among other disease-fighting initiatives.
Nonetheless, Thursday’s announcement signals an end to its contributions.
“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,” Gates said.
In addition to the $100 billion it has spent in the past 25 years, the foundation positioned itself at the forefront of scientific research, helping to develop new technologies and sustain crucial partnerships with countries and companies.
“The foundation work has been way more impactful than I expected,” Gates said, likening his role as a philanthropist to a second career.
The announcement may mark a shift in the operational nature of charitable foundations.
Declaring an end to funding is “a welcome bit of boldness,” said Rhodri Davies, a philanthropy expert and author of the publication Public Good by Private Means.
“This announcement seems like yet more evidence that norms in foundation philanthropy might be shifting away from a default of operating in perpetuity,” he added.
Gates added that, like all private citizens, he has the right to choose how he spends his own money, and has decided to do all he can to help reduce global childhood deaths, having already succeeded on some fronts.
Between the years 2000 and 2020, the foundation succeeded in minimizing childhood deaths by half, according to the United Nations.
The foundation’s CEO, Mark Suzman, says the foundation played a “catalytic role” in helping deliver vaccines to children through Gavi, the vaccine alliance it helped build.
The foundation remains ambitious in its efforts to eradicate and control deadly illnesses and reduce malnutrition.
Gates hopes that by spending to address these issues now, wealthy donors will be free to tackle other problems later.
— With files from The Associated Press