On the occasion of its 25th year, the Gates Foundation today made a new commitment to accelerate its mission to help all people live healthy, productive lives by spending $200 billion over the next 20 years. The decision marks a major acceleration in the foundation’s work and sets a new date of 2045 to sunset its operations. The historic announcement, which represents the largest philanthropic commitment in modern history, was shared in a post by foundation Chair Bill Gates.
“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 around the world.”
The accelerated timeline was affirmed by the foundation’s board of directors with a change to the foundation’s charter, which had said the organization would sunset 20 years after Gates’ death. The funding pledged exceeds the foundation’s current endowment, with the balance coming over time from Gates’ personal fortune.
“A few years ago, I began to rethink that [timeline]. 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 capitalize on the extraordinary global progress in health and development between 2000 and 2025—a period
- 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 contributed to saving 82 million lives through its support of 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 living 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 lifetime of the foundation, 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 new 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.
“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,” 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.
Additional areas of focus for the foundation’s work continue to be:
- Helping U.S. students have pathways to opportunity
- Strengthening digital public infrastructure so more people have access to the financial and social services that foster inclusive economies and open, competitive markets
- Applying new uses of artificial intelligence, which can accelerate the quality and reach of services, from health to education to agriculture
- Lifting up women, their families, and their communities by advancing gender equality to help women access education, health care, and financial services
“The work of making the world better is and always has been a group effort. I am proud of everything the foundation accomplished during its first 25 years, but I also know that none of it would have been possible without fantastic partners,” says Gates. “I believe we can leave the next generation better off and better prepared to fight the next set of challenges.”
Earlier this year, the foundation announced its largest budget ever, in line with the foundation’s commitment to reach overall annual distributions of US$9 billion next year.
